
Qass. 
Book 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT 



THE 



HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD 



FAIRFIELD COUNTY, CONNECTICUT 



FROM THE SETTLEMENT OF THE TOIVN 
IN 1639 TO 1818 



BY 



Mrs. ELIZABETH HUBBELL SCHENCK 



VOL 




tl s 



PUBLISHED P!Y THE AUTHOR 
NEW YORK 

1889 



Copyrighted, 1889, by 
ELIZABETH H. SCHENCK. 



Press of J. J. Little & Co., 
Astor Place, New York. 









f- 



PREFACE 



The Centennial commemoration of the burning of the town of Fairfield 
on the 8th of July, 1879, revived many recollections of interest in the 
minds of the oldest inhabitants of the town, and awakened a desire among 
the younger descendants of our colonial forefathers to learn more of its 
early history. It was for this reason that the author ventured to offer her 
Centennial Reminiscences of Fairfield to the public. These reminiscences 
had been published in the Republican Standard, of Bridgeport, Connecti- 
cut, about three months, when, at the annual gathering of "The Library 
Association of Fairfield," in January, 1880, the author was invited to con- 
tinue and write the history of the town. About six weeks afterwards she 
received the following letter : 

Fairfield, February \6/h, 1880. 
Mrs. E. H. Schenck, Southport, Conii. : 

Dear Madam : — The undersigned, having read with interest your articles in the 
Bridgeport Standard, entitled "Centennial Reminiscences of Fairfield," and regarding 
them as a valuable contribution to our local history, respectfully tender to you this expres- 
sion of their desire that you will continue the labor in which you are engaged, and when 
completed, that you will place its results in permanent and accessible form. 

Jas. K. Lombard, Dwight Morris, Samuel Osgood, N. S. Richardson, 

Morris W. Lyon, Eaton W. Maxcv, Samuel Morehouse, A. N. Lewis, 
Isaac Jennings, John Williams, O.B.Jennings, Joseph Sheffield, 

John H. Glover, John D. Candee. Samuel Glover, A. B. Hull. 

To this letter the following reply was made : 

SoUTHi'ORT, Conn., February 17, 1880. 
To Messrs. J . K. Lombard, Dwight Morris and others : 

•Gentlemen ; — Your complimentary letter of the i6th, inviting me to continue the 
labor in which I have been engaged, and when completed to place its results in perma- 
nent and accessible form, has been duly received. The reception of so gratifying a tes- 
timonial from such a source is most encouraging, ant! I beg you, one and all, to accept 
my grateful acknowledgment of this kindness. 

I accept your invitation with pleasure, and if I do not accomplish all that maybe 
expected of the historian of one of the most interesting towns in Connecticut, rest assured 
it will not be from any lack of diligence or research on my part. 

Again thanking you all for your encouragement and good will, belfeve me, 

Very respectfully yours, 

E. H. Schenck. 



7 



IV PREFACE 

In accepting the task of compiling the history of a town, rich with 
historic lore, the author was fully sensible of the labor connected with it ; 
but she resolved to go bravely on and accomplish all that health, persever- 
ance, research and industry, would eventually achieve. Fairfield is her 
native town, and in Southport, which is a part of it, she was born. For 
over two hundred years her ancestors have lived and died within the limits 
of the township. On the hill which summoned the inhabitants of Green's 
Farms, by the beating of a drum, to the meeting-house on the Lord's day, 
her honored father, the late Jonathan Godfrey, was born. Her great grand- 
father, Lieutenant Nathan Godfrey, of Colonel Whiting's company, fought 
the battles of Ticonderoga and Crown Point. On her mother's side, she 
is a direct descendant of Richard Hubbell and of Joshua Jennings, and on 
both sides of the house of the Couch family. The blood which nerved 
some of the bravest men and women of Fairfield to deeds of courage, 
endurance, and military and political achievements, runs in her veins. 
It therefore, has proved no reluctant task for her to write the history of 
the men and women who took part in the settlement of New England, 
and more particularly of Fairfield. 

It is at all times interesting to study the history of our New England 
ancestry, which, like the seed of Abraham, has become throughout the 
vast domain of the United States, in numbers like unto the sands upon 
the sea-shore : and for their intelligence, sound religious principles, thrift, 
ingenuity, indomitable perseverance and industry, they are honored by all 
the nations of the earth. Therefore, to write of their political and military 
prowess, their religious views, their manners and customs, will prove inter- 
esting to all who love old Fairfield. 

The opinion which many have entertained that the colonists of Con- 
necticut were of an inferior stock. Judge Hollister, our late lamented 
Connecticut historian, most happily dispels. He says of them : 

"The early planters of Connecticut were neither serfs nor the sons of serfs. So far 
from this were many of them, that they could trace their descent back through the line 
of knights and gentlemen of England by means of heralds' visitations, parish records, 
and county genealogies, to say nothing of those family pedigrees that were often trans- 
mitted, as heirlooms, from generation to generation, particularly in the line of the oldest 
son, to a remote day, and some of them to that wavering horizon where history loses 
itself in fable." 

Fleeing, as our forefathers fled, from the religious intolerance of the 
mother country, they found but little time to think of the heraldic devices 
of their sires. Labor, and the honor of labor, with the freedom of wor- 
shiping the Great Jehovah according to their peculiar views, were the 



PREFACE V 

thoughts uppermost in their minds. Idleness alone was disgrace. Antici- 
pating the hardships to be encountered in their venture to a new country, 
many of them, before they left England and Holland, made themselves 
familiar with the useful occupations of life. The plow, the anvil, the 
harrow, and the spinning wheel were to be found in almost every home of 
the New England planters ; and every father made it a matter of con- 
science to teach his sons some one of the useful trades, which were indis- 
pensable to the founders of a colonial settlement. 

Many of the colonists brought servants and slaves with them, yet such 
was the scarcity of laborers that, " with the exception of the clergy, nearly 
all the original proprietors toiled earnestly upon their plantations, and 
frequently in the same field with their servants." Even the pastor some- 
times, when the harvest was plentiful and the laborers few, did not think 
it beneath his dignity to work in his own fields, and to lend a helping hand 
to his neighbors. 

Brave women, many of whom were of gentle blood, who had known 
nothing of the hardships of life before leaving England, sang sweet songs 
to the low music of the spinning-wheel. " To labor," with them, " was to 
pray." And while the men worked in the field, and the women marked 
the moments of time as they passed by each turn of the spinning wheel, 
we can in imagination picture the pleasure with which they labored in the 
following beautiful lines : 

" Labor is health ! Lo, the husbandman reaping, 
How through his veins goes the Hfe current leaping ! 
How his strong arm in its stalwart pride sweeping, 

True as a sunbeam the swift sickle guides. 
Labor is wealth — in the sea the pearl groweth ; 
Rich the queen's robe from the cocoon floweth ; 
From the acorn the oak of the strong forest bloweth ; 

Temple and statue the marble block hides. 

Labor ! all labor is noble and holy ; 

Let thy great deed be thy prayer to thy God." 

And the one great prayer of our Puritan forefathers, for which they 
cheerfully endured the severance of home-ties, the perils of the great 
ocean, and the still greater perils of a new and unsettled country, where 
the subtle Indian, and the wild beasts of the forest were ever on the alert 
for a new prey, was independence of political and religious thought — the 
struggle for which commenced in England in the days of Wickliff, and 



VI PREFACE 

ended only when the Declaration of the Independence of the United 
States secured to all men the rights of " life, liberty and happiness." 

It was no wonder therefore that " all labor," with them, " was noble 
and holy." In the grand forests, the fine meadow-lands, the granite 
quarries, and the clear blue rivers of New England, they foresaw fortunes 
which labor could not fail, in the passage of time, to give into their posses- 
sion. And if for the moment they laid aside their titles, and, in a measure 
all social distinction, they, nevertheless, in many instances were careful 
to preserve their family genealogy and coat of arms. In the published 
genealogical works of Hinman, Savage, and other writers of New England, 
are to be seen the names and birth-places of some of the first planters of 
Fairfield, many of them accompanied with descriptions of their family 
coat of arms. 

Hanging upon the walls of some of the inhabitants of the town, care- 
fully preserved, are family heraldic devices, showing the titled ancestry of 
several of the early settlers of Fairfield. Family seals have been preserved 
in the Probate Ofifice, some of which are very curious. 

But the pioneers of Connecticut were among the bravest of men and 
women, of whom we, who bear their names, have cause to be proud, with- 
out even a trace of aught else to excite that natural family pride, which is 
inborn in every loyal heart, for while our forefathers labored with cheerful 
hearts, each man's rifle was by his side, the jealous eye of the red man of 
the forest being ever upon them, eager for plunder and murder. It has 
been estimated that when the first settlements were formed upon the 
banks of the Connecticut river, there were from twelve to fifteen thousand 
Indians within the present limits of our state. There were certainly many 
hundreds within the bounds of Fairfield. The dense forests gave a shelter 
and a hiding place to the bear, the weasel and the wildcat. Wolves and 
foxes in thousands glared from the thickets, and upon every favorable 
opportunity sallied forth to prey upon the cattle and sheep. 

But fear seems to have been unknown to those brave men. The pro- 
tecting love of God, to whom they alone looked for guidance, shielded 
them in a most extraordinary manner from the Indians, as well as from 
the wild beasts of the forest. Where the hand of the Great Jehovah 
guides He giveth courage for the undertaking. 

The founders of New England were Englishmen. As a people they 
have remained remarkably pure in those physical and mental characteristics 
which mark them the world over, as a branch of the Anglo-Saxon race. 
It is a happy fact that in England to-day, an educated New Englander 
is received with the respect and heartfelt welcome which acknowledges him 



PREFACE vii 

as a brother. Particularly has this been the case since the Southern rebel- 
lion, when New England proved to the world, as she did in the days of 
the Revolution, that she possessed not only a race of men of superior 
physical endurance and military capability to send into the field, but men 
of intellectual cultivation and mental vigor to carry out the aim of our 
Puritan forefathers, to establish a government which should give the privi- 
leges of a freeman even to the humblest sons of Africa. Another fact 
which distinguishes the educated New Englanders of to-day in England, 
is the pure manner among the refined classes of speaking the English lan- 
guage, which it is acknowledged they speak more clearly and correctly 
than the representatives of any other part of the United States. Their 
firm religious character, as representative of Puritan principles and educa- 
tion, gives them a distinct individuality not only in England, but through- 
out all Europe. 

The first settlers of Fairfield were of English birth. In the colonial 
and town records they are called " Englishmen." In the Indian deeds, 
the Indian lands, and the Inglish or English lands are mentioned. As 
time passed they were joined by representatives of other nations; in fact, 
individuals of almost every nationality found their way to the fair fields 
of Uncaway. For many years, however, the planters of Fairfield, as well 
as those throughout New England, remained a remarkably pure and 
unmixed race. After the Battle of Dunbar and Worcester, Cromwell sent 
four or five hundred Scotch prisoners to Boston, some of whom remained 
in America, while others in time returned to their native country. The 
Scotch name of Dougal or Douglas Mac Kensey for whom Kensey's Point 
was named, was for many years a representative of a well known name of 
that nation in Fairfield. 

In 1685, at which time the revocation of the Edict of Nantes was 
declared, about one hundred and fifty families of French Huguenots settled 
in Massachusetts, and scattered throughout the various settlements of 
New England. Again in 1719 one hundred and twenty Scotch-Irish fami- 
lies came over and settled in New Hampshire and elsewhere. 

The barren soil of Massachusetts led many of her planters to settle in 
the river towns on the Connecticut, and at Fairfield, Stratford, and New 
Haven. In Connecticut they found all that their fondest anticipations 
had pictured. But the place of all other places to form a settlement, in 
the eyes of our forefathers, was at Uncaway and Pequonnock, the dis- 
covery and settlement of which, and the history of the men and women 
who took an active part in the colonial history of one of the oldest towns 
in the state, will always be dear to every Fairfielder. 



viii PREFACE 

The author has endeavored to give an accurate account of the histori- 
cal events which for many years made Fairfield the shire-town of the 
county, and one of the prominent settlements of New England. 

To state facts, not individual opinions, has been her aim. If she has 
in any way failed in carrying out this idea, she will at least have the con- 
sciousness of having made an honest effort in that direction, and fulfilled 
the promise to those who intrusted her with writing this history. 

Happily, the author has neither been destitute of encouragement nor 
of liberal support, in the way of books and papers of value, from many 
kind friends, among the most helpful of whom have been the honored 
state librarian of Connecticut, C. C. Hoadley, Brewster Hackley of Black 
Rock, the late Hon. Joseph Sheffield, of New Haven, the Rev. J. K. 
Lombard, of Fairfield, and the late lamented Rev. Dr. Samuel Osgood. 

It has been by special request that the first volume of this work has 
been offered to the public, that the eyes of those who have nearly reached 
the age of fourscore years may read of the heroic deeds of their fore- 
fathers, in their earnest efforts to establish this great republic of the United 
States upon a basis of firm religious and political freedom. 

Elizabeth Hubbell Schenck. 



INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER 



In the spring of 1636, the General Court of Massachusetts commissioned 
Roger Ludlow and seven other gentlemen, to govern the colony of Con- 
necticut " for the space of one year." At the expiration of the year 
Roger Ludlow, who had acted as governor of the colony, summoned his 
constituents to attend a General Court at Hartford, to consider the neces- 
sary steps to be taken for the protection of the infant settlements on the 
Connecticut. After deliberating upon the barbarities of their chief enemy 
the Pequots, one of the most powerful Indian tribes in New England* 
and the dangers thickening around them, a proclamation of war was issued 
in the following words : 

" It is ordered that there shall be an offensive war against the Pequots, & that there 
shall he 90 men levied out of the three Plantations, Hartford, Weathersfield, & Windsor, 
(viz) out of Hartford 42, Windsor 30, Weathersfield 18 : under the command of Capt. 
John Mason, & in case of death or sickness, under the command of Robt. Seely Leift.: 
& the eldest s^geant or military officer surviving, if both these miscarry."* 

One is filled with astonishment at this declaration of war by a body of 
men, who, with all the adults able to bear arms in the three river settle- 
ments did not exceed two hundred and fifty, from which nearly one-third 
were sent against the Pequots. This small band of Englishmen, with 
brave hearts prepared themselves to give their very lives for the preserva- 
tion of their homes, and the life of the New England colonies. Bound in 
one common tie of brotherhood, the other colonies resolved to assist them 
in subduing the savage foe. Plymouth agreed to send forty men, and 
Massachusetts one hundred and sixty, which included a small band 
already sent out under Captain Underbill to strengthen the fort at Say- 
brook, Before this number could be prepared for marching, Captain 
Patrick, of Massachusetts, was sent forward with forty men to capture the 
families of the Pequots in Block Island, afcer which he was to join Mason's 
forces. As prompt in action as in their declaration of war, the Connecti- 
cut soldiers were speedily equipped for the perilous undertaking. On the 
loth of May, Captain Mason with about ninety Englishmen, and seventy 

* Col. Rec. of Conn., I., g. Lieutenant Robert Seely afterwards settled at Stratford and was 
the ancestor of the Seelys of Fairfield county. 



X HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD 

Mohegan and river Indians under Uncas, sailed from Hartford in a pink, 
a pinnace and a shallop, down the river to Saybrook. The Rev. Samuel 
Stone accompanied the expedition as chaplain. Owing to the shallow 
water of the Connecticut river at that season, they were five days in reach- 
ing the fort at its mouth. In the mean time, Uncas and the other Indians 
became impatient, and begged leave to make their way to Saybrook on 
foot, which request was granted. Upon Mason's arrival at the fort (Mon- 
day, May 15) Uncas joined him, and related that while on their way he 
and his men had already fought one battle, killed seven hostile Indians 
near the fort, and taken one prisoner.* This prisoner had been a spy 
employed by Sassacus to watch the fort, and had witnessed all the mur- 
ders committed upon the garrison near it. Uncas and his men requested 
that he should be executed according to the Indian custom of killing a 
spy, which was granted. The unfortunate Indian was tortured to death, 
while Uncas and his men danced around him with savage delight, until 
Captain Underhill put an end to his sufferings, by shooting him through 
the head with a pistol.f 

Captain Mason had been instructed to make an attack upon the fort at 
Pequot harbor. The long delay, however, in reaching Saybrook, and 
adverse winds on the sound, led him to fear that Sassacus would concen- 
trate his warriors at that point, and thus make his attack unsuccessful. 
He had been educated in military tactics in England, and conceived the 
plan of passing by the Pequot harbor, and sailing to the Narragansett 
country as more judicious. By this course, he not only hoped to capture 
Sassacus by making an unexpected attack upon his rear, but thought he 
might fall in with the English troops on their way from Massachusetts. 
He also deemed it advisable to secure aid from the warriors of Canonicus. 

* A more pleasing incident than this occurred soon after their arrival at Saybrook. A Dutch 
vessel which had been sent by Governor Stuyvesant to rescue two young English girls, captured at 
Weathersfield by the Pequots, cast anchor under the guns of the fort. Upon learning that they 
were furnished with articles for trading with the Pequots, the garrison ordered them not to leave, 
lest the metal articles on board might be purchased and manufactured into arrow heads by the 
savages. After a parley, the captain was allowed to proceed on his mission. Upon entering the 
Thames, he dispatched a messenger to Sassacus ofTering a ransom for the two young girls, but the 
haughty chief refused to give them up. The Dutch captain then invited some of the principal 
Pequots on board his vessel, made them prisoners, and sent a message to Sassacus, that unless he 
exchanged seven of the prisoners for the two giils, he would throw them all into the sea. Sassacus 
at first laughed at the threat, but through the influence of the wife of Mononotto was induced to 
make the exchange, to the great joy of the young girls and their friends. Gardiner says in his 
history of the Pequot War, that he paid ;if 10 to ransom the two girls. 

f Gardiner's Hist, of the Pequot War, Mass. Hist. Coll., V., S. 3, 131-163. P. Vincent's 
Hist. Pequot War, Mass. Hist. Coll., VI., S. 3, 36. 



INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER xi 

Many of his men were opposed to this plan. They had already been 
longer from home than they had anticipated ; and thought the attack, as 
ordered by the General Court, should be made at all hazards. 

"But Capt. Mason, apprehending an exceeding great hazard in so doing for the 
reasons fore mentioned, as also some other whicii I shall forbear to trouble you with, 
did therefore earnestly desire Mr. Stone that he would commend our condition to 
the Lord that night, to direct how, and in what manner we should demean ourselves in 
that Respect : he being our Chaplin and lying aboard our Pink, the Captain on shoar. In 
the morning very early Mr. Stone came ashoar to the Captain's chamber, and told him he 
had done as he desired, and was fully satisfied to sail for Narragansett: our council was 
then called, and the several reasons alledged : in fine we all agreed with one accord to 
sail for Narragansett, which the next morning, (May 12,) we put in execution. 

The little army arrived at Narragansett bay on Saturday towards evening, where 
they kept the Sabbath. On account of the wind they were not able to go on shore till 
sunset on Tuesday, when Capt. Mason landed and went to the chief sachem's residence, 
and desired a free passage through his country, which was granted. The next day, 
Wednesday, they arrived at a place called Nayantic, eighteen or twenty miles distant, 
where resided another Narragansett sachem, who lived in a fort. As they would not 
suffer any of the English to go into their fort, Capt. Mason set a guard around it, and 
would not suffer any of the Indians to go out and give information to the Pequots of their 
approach. 

On Thursday, about eight of the clock in the morning, we marched thence towards 
Pequot, with about five hundred Indians ; but through the heat of the weather and want 
of provisions, some of our men fainted, and after having marched about twelve miles, we 
carne to Paiucatuck river, at a Ford where our Indians told us the Pequots did usually 
fish; there making an Alta, we stayed some small time ; the Narragansett Indians mani- 
festing great fear, in so much that many of them returned, although they had frequently 
despised us, saying, That lue durst not look upon a Peqtiot, but themselves would perform 
great things; though we had often told them that we came on purpose, and were resolved, 
God assisting, to see the Pequots, and to fight with them before we returned, though we 
perished. I then enquired of Onkos, (Uncas,) what he thought the Indians would do ? 
who said the Narragansetts would all leave us, but as for himself, he would never leave 
us ; and so it proved; for which expression, and some other speeches of his, I shall never 
forget him. Indeed he was a great friend, and did great service. 

And after we had refreshed ourselves with our mean commons, we marched about 
three miles, and came to a field which had lately been planted with Indian corn : there 
we made another Alt, and called our council, supposing we drew near to the enemy ; and 
being informed by the Indians that the enemy had two forts almost impregnable ; but we 
were not at all discouraged, but rather animated, insomuch that we were resolved to 
assault both their forts at once. But understanding that one of them was so remote that 
we could not come up with it before midnight, though we marched hard : whereat we 
were much grieved, chiefly because the greatest and bloodiest sachem there resided, 
whose name was Sassacoiis : We were then constrained, being exceedingly spent in our 
march with extreme heat and want of necessaries, to accept the nearest." 

" We then marching on in a silent manner, the Indians that remained fell all into the 
rear, who formerly kept the van, (l)eing possessed with great fear;) we continued our 



xii HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD 

march till about one hour in the nij^ht : and coming to a little swamp between two hills, 
we pitched our little camp ; much wearied with hard travel, keeping great silence, sup- 
posing we were very near the fort, as our Indians informed us, which proved otherwise. 
The rocks were our pillows ; yet rest was pleasant. The night proved comfortable, being 
clear and moonlight. We appointed our guards, and placed our sentinels at some dis- 
tance, who heard the enemy singing at the fort, who continued their strain till midnight, 
with great exulting and rejoicing as we were afterwards informed. They, seeing our 
pinnaces sail by them some days before, concluded we were afraid of them, and durst not 
come near them, the burthen of their song tending to that purpose. 

In the morning (Friday, 26th of May) we awaking and seeing it very light, supposing 
it had been day, and so we might have lost our opportunity, having purposed to make 
our assault before day, roused the men with all expedition, and briefly commended our- 
selves and design to God, thinking immediately to go to the assault. 

The Indians showed us a path, and told us that it led directly to the fort. We held 
on our march about two miles, wondering that we came not to the fort, and fearing we 
might be deluded ; but seeing corn newly planted at the foot of a great hill, supposing the 
fort was not far off, a champion country being round about us ; then making a stand, 
gave the word for some of the Indians to come up ; at length Onkos and one Wequash* 
appeared. We demanded of them. Where was the fort ! They answered. On the top of 
that hill. Then we demanded. Where were the rest of the Indians. They answered, 
Behind, exceedingly afraid. We wished them to tell the rest of their fellows that they 
should by no means fly, but stand at what distance they pleased, and see whether English- 
men would now fight or not. Then Captain Underhill came up, who marched in the 
rear ; and commending ourselves to God, we divided our men, there being two entrances 
in the fort, intending to enter both at once. — Captain Mason leading up to that on the 
northeast side, who approached within one rod, heard a dog bark ; and an Indian cry 
Owa7iiix! Owanux ! which is Englishmen! Englishmen ! We called up our forces 
with all expedition, gave fire upon them through the pallisado, the Indians being in a dead, 
indeed their last sleep. Then we wheeling off, fell upon the main entrance, which was 
blocked up with bushes about breast high, over which the Captain passed, intending to 
make good the entrance, encouraging the rest to follow. Lieutenant Seely endeavored 
to enter, but being somewhat cumbered, stepped back & pulled out the bushes, & so 
entered, & with him about sixteen men. We had formerly concluded to destroy them by 
the sword, &; save the plunder. 

Whereupon Capt. Mason, seeing no Indians, entered a wigwam, where he was beset 
with many Indians, waiting all opportunities to lay hands on him, but could not prevail. 
At length William Heyden, espying the breach in the wigwam, supposing some English 
might be there, entered ; but in his entrance fell over a dead Indian ; but speedily recover- 
ing himself, the Indians some fled, others crept under their beds. The Captain going out 
of the wigwam, saw many Indians in the lane or street ; he making towards them they 
fled, were pursued to the end of the lane, where they were met by Edward Pattison 

* Wequash was a Neantic .Sagamore, who revolted from the Pequots. He was greatly affected 
by the remarkable victory of the English over them. "So great was his conviction of the power 
& glory of the God of the Englishman, that he went about the colony of Connecticut after the war, 
with bitter lamentations that he did not know Jesus Christ, until the good people instructed him, 
when he became an earnest convert to Christianity." He was supposed to have been poisoned by 
those Indians, who hated him for having embraced Christianity. — Mather's Magnalia. 



INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER xiii 

(Sr» Thomas Barber, with some otliers, where seven of them were slain, as they said. The 
Captain facing about, marched a slow pace up the lane ; he came down, perceiving him- 
self very much out of breath, and coming to the other end, near the place where he first 
entered, saw two soldiers standing close to the palisado, with their swords pointed to the 
ground ; the Captain told them that we should never kill them after this manner. The 
Captain also said, We must hum t/iem, and immediately stepping into the wigwam, where 
he had been before, brought out a fire brand, and putting it into the mats with 
which they were covered, set the wigwams on fire. Lieutenant Thomas Bull and 
Nicholas Olmsted beholding came up ; and when it was thoroughly kindled, the Indians 
ran as men most dreadfully amazed. • And indeed such adreadful terror did the Almighty 
let fall upon their spirits, that they would fly from us and run into the very flames, where 
many of them perished. And when the fort was thoroughly fired, command was given 
that all should fall off and surround the fort ; which was readily attended by all, only one 
Arthur Smith, being so wounded that he could not move out of the place, who was 
happily espied by Lieutenant Bull, and by him rescued. The fire was kinded on the 
northeast side to the windward; which did swiftly overrun the fort, to the extreme amaze- 
ment of the enemy, and great rejoicing of ourselves. Some of them climbing to the top 
of the palisado ; others of them running into the very flames ; many of them gathering to 
the windward lay pelting at us with their arrows ; and we repaid them with our small 
shot : others of the stoutest issued forth, as we did guess, to the number of forty, who 
perished by the sword. . . . What I have formerly said, is according to my own 
knowledge, there being sufficient living testimony to every particular. But in reference 
to Capt. Underbill and his partie's acting in this assault, I can only intimate as we are 
informed by some of themselves immediately after the fight, that they marched up to the 
entrance on the southwest side ; there they made some pause ; a valiant, resolute gentle- 
man, one Mr. Hedge, stepping towards the gate saying, ' If we may not enter, wherefore 
came we here ? ' and immediately endeavored to enter ; but was opposed by a sturdy 
Indian, which did impede his entrance ; but the Indian being slain by himself and Sergeant 
Davis, Mr. Hedge entered the fort with some others ; but the fort being on fire, the smoke 
and flames were so violent that they were constrained to desert the fort. . . . Thus 
were they now at their wit's end. who not many hours before exalted themselves in their 
great pride, threatening and resolving the utter ruin and destruction of all the English, 
exulting and rejoicing with songs and dances : but God was above them, who laughed 
his enemies and the enemies of his people to scorn, making them as a fiery oven." 
" Thus were the stout-hearted spoiled, having slept their last sleep, and none of their 
men could find their hands. Thus did the Lord judge among the heathen, filling the 
place with dead bodies ! And here we may see the just judgment of God in sending even 
the very night before the assault, one hundred and fifty men from the other fort, to join 
with them of that place, who w-ere designed, as some of themselves reported, to go forth 
against the English at that very instant when this heavy stroke came upon them, to where 
they perished with their fellows. So that the mischief they intended to us, came upon 
their own pate. They were taken in their own snare, and we through mercy escaped. 
And thus in little more than one hours space, was their impregnable fort with themselves 
destroyed, to the number of six or seven hundred, as some of themselves confessed. 
There were only seven taken captive, and about seven escaped. Of the English there were 
two slain outright, and about twenty wounded ; some fainted by reason of the sharpness 
of the weather, it being a cool morning, and the want of such comforts and necessaries as 



XIV HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD 

are needful in such a case ; especially our Chjrurgeo7t * was much wanting-, whom we left 
with our barks in Narragansett Bay, who had orders to remain until the night before our 
intended assault. And thereupon grew many difficulties ; our provision and munition 
near spent ; we in the enemy's country, who did far exceed us in number, being much 
enraged, all our Indians except Onkos deserting us ; our pinnaces at a great distance 
from us, and when they would come we were uncertain. But as we were consulting what 
course to take, it pleased God to discover our vessel to us before a fair gale of wind, sail- 
ing into Peqiiot Harbor to our great rejoicing. 

We had no sooner discovered our vessels, but immediately came up the enemy from 
the other fort — three hundred or more as we conceived. The Captain led out a file or 
two of men to skirmish with them, chiefly to try what temper they were of, who put them 
to a stand ; we being much encouraged thereat, presently prepared to march towards 
our vessels. Four or five of our men were so wounded that they must be carried in 
the arms of twenty more. We also being faint, were constrained to put four to one man, 
with the arms of the rest that were wounded to others ; so that we had but forty men free. 
At length we hired several Indians, who eased us of that burthen, in carrying off our 
wounded men. And marching one quarter of a mile, the enemy coming up to the place 
where the fort was, and beholding what was done, stamped and tore the hair from their 
heads ; and after a little space, came mounting down the hill upon us, in a full career, as if 
they would over-run us: but when they came within shot, the rear faced about, giving fire 
upon them : some of them being shot, made the rest more wary; yet they held on running to 
and fro, and shooting their arrows at random. There was at the foot of the hill a small 
brook, where we rested and refreshed ourselves, having by that time taught them a little 
more manners than to disturb us. We then marched on tov/ardsPequot Harbor, and fall- 
ing upon several wigwams burnt them, the enemy still following us in the rear, which 
was to the windward, though to little purpose ; yet some of them lay in ambush, behind 
rocks and trees, often shooting at us, yet through mercy touched not one of us ; and as we 
came to any swamp or thicket, we made some shot to clear the passage. Some of them 
fell with our shot, and probably more might, but for want of munition: but when any of 
them fell, our Indians would give a great shout, and then they would take so much courage 
as to fetch their heads. And thus we continued until we came within two miles of Pequot 
Harbor ; where the enemy gathered together and left us, we marching to the top of an hill 
adjoining the harbor, with our colors flying, having left our drum at the place of our 
rendezvous the night before ; we seeing our vessels there riding at anchor, to our great 
rejoicing, and came to the water side ; we sat down in quiet.f 

Captain Mason sent the wounded by sea to Hartford and led his little 
army and Indian allies by land to the fort at Saybrook, where they arrived 
on Saturday evening about sunset. Here, " they were nobly entertained 

* Dr. Thomas Pell, a gentleman of good family from London, was sent from the fort at Say- 
brook, as surgeon of the expedition. He afterward settled at New Haven, from whence he 
removed to Fairfield, and afterwards to Westchester, N. Y., where he purchased of the natives a large 
tract of land, which was given the name of Pellham. — Styles' History of Windsor, p. 38. 

Mrs. Martha J. Lamb's Hist, of New York I. 171, 257, 3S1. Bolton's Hist, of Westchester. 
Dr. Pell'swill was probated at Fairfield, and some reliable documents in regard to his nephew John 
Pell of London, are on file there. 

f Mason's Hist. Pequot War. 



INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER XV 

by Lieut. Lion Gardiner with many great guns." They remained over 
Sunday at the fort, spending the day in praise and thanksgiving for their 
great and wonderful deUverance from their savage foe. Continuing in 
Mason's words : 

"And when we had taken order for the safe conduct of the Narragansett Indians, we 
repaired to the place of our abode; where we were entertained with great triumph and 
rejoicing, and praising God for liis goodness to us, in succeeding our weak endeavors, in 
crowning us with success, and restoring of us with so Httle loss. Thus was God seen in 
the Mount, crushing his proud enemies, and the enemies of his people : tliey who were 
erewhile a terror to all that were round about them, who resolved to destroy all the 
English, and to root their very name out of this country, should by such weak means, even 
seventy-seven, there being no more at the fort, bring the mischief tliey plotted, and the 
violence they offered and exercised, upon their own heads in a moment, burning them up 
in the fire of his wrath. 

Our commons were very short, there being a general scarcity throughout the 
Colony of all sorts of provisions, it being upon our first arrival at the place. We had but 
one pint of strong liqtior among us in our whole march, but what the wilderness 
afforded, (the bottle of liquor being in my hand,) and when it was empty the very smelling 
to the bottle would presently recover such as had fainted away, wliich happened by the 
extremity of the heat. 

I still remember a speech of Mr. Hooker, at our going abroad, that they should be 
bread for us. 

I shall mention two or three special providences that God was pleased to vouchsafe 
to particular men, viz. two men, being one man's servants, namely John Dier and Thomas 
Stiles, were both of tliem shot in the knots of their handkerchiefs, being about their necks, 
and received no hurt. Lieutenant Seeley was shot in the eyebrow with a flat headed 
arrow, the point turning downwards ; I pulled it out myself. Lieutenant Bull had an 
arrow shot into a hard piece of cheese, having no other defence ; which may verify the 
old saying, 'A little armor would serve if a man knew where to place it.' Many such provi- 
dences happened ; some respecting myself, but since there is none that witness to them, 
I shall forbear to mention them. As Captain Mason entered the wigwam from which he 
seized a burning firebrand to fire the fort, an Indian drew an arrow to its very head, 
which would have killed him had not one of his sergeants cut the bow just in time to save 
him."* 

This remarkable undertaking scarcely has a parallel in history. " Never," 
says Palfrey, '' was a war so just or so necessary ;" and certainly never a 
victory more signal or more wonderful. For a mere handful of men to 
attack so powerful a foe in a strange country, surrounded on all sides with 
hundreds of Indians, seemed presumption itself. But our forefathers relied 
not on the strength of their own arm ; their trust was in the mighty power 
of the Most High; and His providences overshadowed them in an extra- 
ordinary manner. 

In the mean time the Pequots returned to the fort of Sassacus, and 
* Hubbard's Narrative of Indian War. p. 38. 



XVI HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD 

after relating the story of their defeat, and the havoc made by the Eng- 
lish, they charged all the misfortunes which had befallen them to his 
haughtiness and misconduct ; and threatened him with immediate death. 
His friends and chief counselors, however, interceded for him, and through 
their entreaty and protection his life was spared. They revenged them- 
selves upon Uncas and his followers, by killing all their kinsmen who 
remained among them, except seven. The latter escaped to the English. 
They then held a council of war, and regarding their situation as one too 
hazardous to remain where they were, burned their wigwams, destroyed 
their fort, and in bands wandered about the country. About forty warriors 
with a large number of women and children moved a short distance west- 
ward, where they took refuge in a swamp. Sassacus and Mononotto, with 
the greater part of their Sagamores, moved further westward. Upon reach- 
ing the Connecticut, they seized three men in a boat, whom they dis- 
patched with savage revenge. 

When the news of Mason's victory reached Massachusetts, the Governor 
and Council decided to send Captain Israel Stoughton, Captain William 
Trask and Lieutenant Richard Davenport with one hundred and sixty 
men,* to assist Captain Mason in conquering the Pequots, even to the 
destruction of their name. . . . Like the Israelites of old, they deemed 
it an act of Christian justice to exterminate these " heathen Amalekites." 

On the 2d of June the General Court met again at Hartford. An order 
was issued that thirty men should be sent out of the '' several plantations 
in this river Connecticut, to set down in the Pequoitt Country & River in 
place convenient to maint^'"^ o"" right y' God by Conquest hath given to 
us; & Leiftennt Seely shall have the Comande of them. " 

Governor John Haynes, who had joined the Hartford settlement during 
the previous summer, and Roger Ludlow were appointed to go down to 
the fort at Seabrook, " to treat & Conclude with their friends of the Bay 
about prosecuting the war against the Pequots, — & to parley with the Bay 
about setlinge downe in the Pequoett Country." 

Captain Stoughton's party, with the famous Rev. John Wilson as chap- 
lain, arrived at Pequot Harbor the latter part of June. Here Captain 
Stoughton was guided to a large swamp by some of the Narragansetts, 
where they surrounded the band before mentioned, who there had sought 
refuge and took about eighty captives. Thirty men out of this number 
were killed. f Two Sachems and the women and children were saved. 

*Mass. Hist. Coll. I., 192. 

f Cotton Mather states " that at one time some hundreds of them were seized by Captain 
Stoughton with little opposition, who sending away the females & children as captives, put the 



INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER xvii 

The Sachems were spared, upon promising that they would conduct 
Stoughton to Sassacus, the women and children numbering about eighty, 
thirty of whom were given to the Narragansetts and three to the Massa- 
chusetts Indians. The remainder were sent to Massachusetts for slaves. 
About this time Captain Stoughton and his men effected a junction 
with Captain Mason's army, who were accompanied by Roger Ludlow, 
and several of the principal gentlemen from the river settlements. After 
a council of war, it was decided to pursue the Pequots. The captured 
Sachems refused to tell where they could be found, and in consequence 
were beheaded at a place near Guilford, afterwards called Sachem's head. 

The vessels carrying provisions, etc., sailed along the shore, while the 
troops marched by land, followed by Uncas and his men, who kept close 
on the trail of the flying Pequots, expecting to join the English in over- 
taking them. In three days the army reached Qunnipiack (New Haven), 
where they saw a great smoke in the woods. Supposing the enemy near 
at hand, they, without delay, marched upon them, but soon learned that 
the fire had been kindled by the inhabitants. The troops now embarked 
on board their vessels, and spent several days at Qunnipiack. Here a 
Moheagan, named Jack Etow, captured two Pequots in a forest, whom he 
carried prisoners on board the English vessel. They had loitered behind 
their clan, and to escape observation had taken refuge in a tree. Life was 
granted to one of them, if he would search out Sassacus, and kill him or 
take him prisoner. The treacherous savage set out on his mission, and, 
joining his countrymen, for several days sought an opportunity to slay 
his chief. He was, however, soon suspected of his design, and fled to the 
English by night. He informed Captain Mason of the number of Pequots 
with Sassacus and Mononotto, and that they were secreted in a swamp to 
the westward. 

The army were at once set in motion, and marched with all possible 
speed to the place designated. 

"As the Souldiers were uppon their march, close by a great thicket, where no eye 
could penetrate farre, as it often falls out in such wearisom wayes, where neither men 
nor beast have beaten out a path; some Souldiers lingering behinde their fellowes, two 
Indians watching their opportunity, much like a hungry hauke, when they supposed the 
last man was come up, who kept a double double double distance in his march, they 
sudden & swiftly snatched him up in their tallens, hoisting him upon their shoulders, ran 
into the swamp with him; the Souldier unwilling to be made a Pope by being borne on 
mens shoulders, strove with them all lie could to free himselfe from their hands; but, 

men on board a vessel of one Skipper Gallop, which proved a Charons ferry-boat unto them, for it 
was found the quickest way to feed the fishes with 'em." Magnalia, I., B. VII., 483. Hubbard's 
Indian Wars, p. 35. 
B 



XVlll HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD 

like a careful! Commander, one Caplaine Davenport, then Lieutenant of tiiis company, 
being diligent in his place to bring up the reare, coming up with them, followed with 
speed into the swamp after him, having a very severe cutlace tyed to his wrist, & being 
well able to make it bite sore when he set it on, rezolving to make it fall foul on the 
Indians bones, he soone overtook them, but was prevented by the buckler they held up 
from killing them, which was the man they had taken; It was a matter of much wonder 
to see with what dexterity they hurled the poore Souldier about, as if they had been hand- 
ling a Lacedaemonian shield, so that the nimble Captaine Davenport could not of a long 
time, fasten one stroke upon them; yet, at last, dying their tawny skin into a crimson 
colour, they cast downe their prey, & hasted thorow the thickets for their lives. The 
Souldier thus redeemed, had no such hard usage, but that he is alive, as I suppose, at 
this very day." * 

After marching about twenty-five miles near the coast, through Cup- 
head, Pequonnock, and Uncoway, they came upon the swamp at Sasqua 
(now called Southport), in which the Pequots were secreted. This swamp 
of water, bogs and mire, thickly wooded with a dense undergrowth, entirely 
surrounded a cone-shaped hill, about thirty feet in height. It was almost 
impossible for a stranger to enter it, without sinking above the knees in mire. 
The English troops drawn up in the regular order of their companies, made 
an attack. The Indians, in the meantime, skulked up and down shooting 
their arrows from behind the trees, and then suddenly dropped flat in the 
water, to defend themselves from the retaliation of the soldiers' muskets. 
Lieutenant Davenport encouraged his men to follow him into the swamp, 
where he was sorely wounded, and both he and his men sank so deep in 
the mire, that but for the timely assistance of their friends, they would 
all have been killed. Several Indians were slain in the encounter. Find- 
ing they could not capture the enemy in this way, the English decided to 
surround the swamp. After some time spent in skirmishing, the native 
Indians desired a parley. Meanwhile, an Indian had been seen to enter 
the thicket with a brass kettle on his back, which led to the conclusion 
that there must be some place of firm land in the centre of the swamp. 

At the first approach of the English, the Sachems and Indians of the 
country had fled with dismay into the swamp; but as they had done the 
English no harm, the parley was granted. The officers were also anxious 
to save the old men, women and children. Thomas Stanton, a man familiar 
with the Indian language, was sent in to treat with them. He was 
instructed to offer life and protection to all Indians who had not shed Eng- 
lish blood. "The native Sachems, followed by companies of warriors, aged 
men, women and children, came out in numbers of about two hundred." 
The chief Sachem declared that neither he nor his people had done the 

* Johnson's Wonderworking Providence. Mass. Hist. Col. Vol. IV § 2. pp. 50-61. 



INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER xix 

English any harnn, and expressed a desire to make peace with them. The 
haughty Pequots, however, disdained all overtures of peace, exclaiming: 
"We will fight it out to the last ! " Stanton barely escaped with his life in 
leaving the swamp, and the soldiers were obliged to fly to his rescue. The 
fight was now renewed, but on account of some misunderstanding among 
the ofificers, several of the Pequots escaped. " Some were for forcing the 
swamp immediately, but this was opposed as too dangerous. Others were 
for cutting it down, as they had taken many hatchets, with which they 
were of the opinion it might bp effected. Some others were for making a 
palisade and hedge round it, but neither of these measures could be 
adopted." As night approached, it was agreed to lessen the circle around 
the swamp, wdiich w'as almost divided in two parts at one point, by cutting 
down the trees and undergrowth. This being done, sentinels were stationed 
at a distance of twelve feet apart. Thus they entirely encircled the swamp, 
and watched the enemy through the night. During the night the Pequots 
crept near the guards and discharged their arrows at them, but not one 
was slain. From the dead bodies found the next day, it was shown that the 
English musketry had made severe havoc among the enemy." Just before 
dawn a dense fog fell over the place, and seizing this favorable opportunity 
for escape, the Indians, with hideous yells, first attacked Captain Patrick's 
quarters, but they were severely driven back by Captain Mason sending 
timely aid. Captain Trask also marched quickly to the scene of action, 
followed by Captain Mason, upon whom the Indians now directed their 
full strength. Mason, however, gave them such a warm reception that 
they were glad to retire. They then rushed once more upon Captain 
Patrick's quarters, when about sixty or seventy of their bravest warriors 
broke through his line and escaped, several of whom were found slain the 
next day, by those who pursued them as far as Fairfield. About twenty 
others were killed, and one hundred and eighty taken prisoners. Hatch- 
ets, wampum, kettles, trays, and other Indian utensils were taken. 

Sassacus who had been alarmed by the escape of the spy sent to slay 
or take him prisoner, fearing to fall into the power of the English before 
the battle took place, set out for the countr\- of the Mohawks. He was 
accompanied by Mononotto and twenty or more of his bravest warriors. 
He no doubt feared his own men, who had already threatened his life at 
their defeat at Groten. He carried with him about five hundred pounds 
of wampum. The women who had been taken captives, stated that about 
seven hundred Indians and thirteen Sachems had been slain during the 
war ; and that thirteen Sachems were still living. Sassacus and his warriors 
were surprised by the Mohawks, and all slain but IMononotto who escaped. 



XX HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD 

It was reported that the Mohawks were bribed by the Narragansetts to 
commit this act. In the month of October following, the Mohawks sent 
the scalps of Sassacus, one of his brothers, and five others of the murdered 
Sachems, as trophies to Hartford. Soon after Roger Ludlow and other 
gentlemen, carried a lock of Sassacus' hair to Boston, " as a rare sight, & 
a sure demonstration of the death of their mortal enemy," 

Among the women taken captive in the swamp was the wife of Mono- 
notto. Her modesty, kindliness of temper, and good sense, particularly 
attracted the English. She made but two requests, which were that 
her chastity and children might be spared. These requests were granted, 
particularly, as it had been through her instrumentality that the lives 
of the two young girls, who had been stolen from Weathersfield had 
been spared. She was specially recommended to the kindness of the Gov- 
ernor of Massachusetts, who gave her and her children every care and 
protcctiony' The captives and the booty taken, were divided among the 
Connecticut and Massachusetts troops. A number of those carried to 
Massachusetts were sold as slaves in the West Indies, where they dragged 
out an unhappy but brief existence. Those who remained as slaves in the 
colonies proved restless, and soon escaped from their servitude. f 

Upon the return of the victorious army, joy unspeakable reigned in 
the English colonies. A day of public thanksgiving was appointed in 
Plymouth, Massachusetts, and Connecticut. The planters now went forth 
to their labor in the field without fear of the Indians ; and the mothers 
with animated fervor, fearlessly sang Puritan hymns by the cradles of their 
children. 

The drain of men from the plantations to carry on this war, and a 
great scarcity of articles of food and clothing, made the winter, which was 
unusually severe, one of great privations to the colonists. Money also was 
very scarce. That their condition might not be known to the Indians, as 
well as to prevent them from taking advantage of their situation by rais- 
ing the price of corn, the General Court met at Hartford on the 9th of 
February, 1638, and passed a resolution, " that no person in the river plan- 
tations or at Agawam, should go up the river to trade with the Indians for 
corn, either privately or publicly, under a penalty of 5s. pr. bushel, without 
the consent of the Court." 

In order to raise means to pay the expenses of the war, it was voted 

|/ * Mason's Hist., Pequot War., Mass. Hist. Coll., Vol. 8, S. 2, 146-151. 

f One of the Pequot captives was owned by Samuel Hall, and bound to Samuel Gregory of 
Fairfield for several years. He was given his freedom on the 27th of October, i6gi. F. T. 
Votes, p. 21, 



INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER xxi 

that a tax of six hundred pounds should be levied, to defray the charges 
of the late design against the Pequots, " Agawam £S6, i6*-, Windsor 
;^I58, 2% Hartford ;^25i, 2^-, Weathersfield ^124. The payment to be 
made in money, in Wampum at fower a penny, or in good merchantable 
beaver at 9^- pr. pounde." Mr. Clement Chaplin was appointed Treasurer. 
Mr. William Wadsworth of Hartford, Henry Wolcott, sr. of Windsor, 
Andrew Ward of Weathersfield, and John Burr of Agawam, were made 
collectors of taxes for their respective plantations. On the 8th of March, 
committees, afterwards called deputies, were elected from each town to 
assist the magistrates. From these two bodies, originated the Senate and 
House of Representatives of Connecticut. 

At the same time Mr. William Pynchion of Springfield was appointed 
to purchase corn of the Indians, and to deliver five hundred bushels at 
Hartford, at 5^- a bushel. If he could save by this sale, he was to deliver 
the proportion of Windsor to Mr. Ludlow at 5^- 2^- a bushel. Weathers- 
field was to be supplied from Hartford. The price set to pay the Indians 
was 4^ pr. bushel, "to be paid in wampum at 3 a penny, or merchantable 
beaver at X • a pound." 

At this critical crisis, the committee were sent to Pocomstock or Deer- 
field to purchase corn. The Indians came down the river in fifty canoes 
laden with corn at one time. This was considered a great and providential 
deliverance, by the famished colonists. All who wished to purchase corn, 
were to repair to the magistrates of the town in which they resided for a 
just proportion. Mr. Ludlow and two others were also commissioned to 
send a vessel to the Narragansett Indians for corn. 

A stringent law was passed against any abuse of the Indians. Corselets 
and arms were ordered to be provided within six months, for the use of the 
army. Captain Mason was made Major-General of the militia of Con- 
necticut, with a stipend~~ot"fcn-t7 pounds pr. annum, "to train the men in 
each plantation ten days in every year, soe it be not in June or July." 
The Rev. Mr. Hooker delivered him the staff. Every male from the age 
of sixteen was ordered to bear arms, and in case anyone failed to be 
present at the public trainings he was to pay a fine of 3^-. Each plantation 
was required to be supplied with a magazine of powder and shot; and 
every military man to have continually in his house "half a pound of 
powder, two pounds of bullets suitable to his piece, & one pound of 
match, if his piece be a match-lock," under a penalty of five shillings. 

For the public service done by Thomas Stanton in behalf of the 
colony, he was awarded ten pounds. He was also appointed to attend all 
the Courts as interpreter between the English and the Indians, with a 



xxii HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD 

salary of ten pounds pr. annum. The Court also passed a law, " that when 
a company of Indians set down near an English plantation, they should 
declare who their chief Sachem was, & that said Sachem should pay for all 
damages done by his men." 

Scarcely had a month passed after the close of the war, before serious 
trouble arose between the magistrates of Massachusetts and Ninigret, 
chief Sachem of the Nehantics, on account of his harboring the Pequots. 
Uncas, elated with his triumph over Sassacus and Mononotto, now consid- 
ered himself at the head of the Pequot tribe, and willing to increase the 
number of his men, had also received several of the wandering tribe. 
The Narragansetts, who had conceived a bitter hatred towards him since 
the war, reported his course to the English, which was most unfavorable 
for him. 

In order to appease the English, Uncas with thirty-seven of his war- 
riors, made a visit to Boston in July. He presented the governor with 
twenty fathoms of wampum, which was refused until he made satisfaction 
for receiving the Pequots. With apparent grief and many apologies he 
denied the charge. His present then being received, he took courage and 
placing his hand upon his heart he thus addressed the governor : "This 
heart is not mine: it is yours. Command me any hard thing, & I will do 
it. I will never believe any Indian's word against the English. If any 
Indian shall kill an Englishman, I will put him to death, be he ever so dear 
to me." 

This promise was faithfully kept. Uncas remained a loyal friend to 
the English, who often protected his life and that of his men, at great sac- 
rifice. 

The few surviving Pequots became a prey to all the other Indian 
tribes, who prided themselves in presenting the English with as many of 
their heads, as they could either by violence or stratagem secure. At 
last they applied to the General Court for protection. 

At a meeting of the General Court held at Hartford on the 2ist of Sep- 
tember, the remnant of this once powerful tribe, which had been reduced 
to about two hundred, were divided among their enemies as follows : 
eighty to Miantonimo, twenty to Ninigret, and the other hundred to 
Uncas, to be received and treated as their men. Peace was established 
between Miantonimo and Uncas. It was also stipulated if trouble should 
arise in the future between them that they should imm.ediately appeal to 
the English for justice. The Mohegans and Narragansetts promised not 
to conceal or entertain enemies of the English. The Pequots were never 
to return to their own country without the consent of the English, to whom 



INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER xxiii 

they were also to pay " a tribute annually of a fathom of wampumpcag for 
every man, half a fathom for every young man, & a hand's length for every 
male papoose." 

The consummation of this treaty gave great joy to the colonists. The 
churches throughout all New England kept a public day of thanksgiving 
for the mercies vouchsafed them. "Devout & animated praises were 
addressed tp him, who giveth his people the victory, & causeth them to 

dwell s^felyv^' — 

'"""having enacted the above laws for the protection of the settlements, 
the General Court assembled at Hartford on the 14th of January, for the 
purpose of preparing a constitution for the_goyernmcnt of the colony of 
Connecticut. The commission granted by the General Court of Massa- 
chusetts to Roger Ludlow and his constituents, covered only the space of 
one year. The remoteness of the new colony from Massachusetts, and the 
fact of its being beyond the limits of that colony, made it extremely incon- 
venient to act in co-operation with its government; besides, Ludlow and 
his associates, when they left Massachusetts, probably had no idea of con- 
tinuing under that jurisdiction. At the close of the first year, a renewal 
of the commission was not solicited; and upon the Connecticut patentees 
abandoning the scheme of colonizing their patent territories, the planters 
of the river settlements formed themselves, by a voluntary compact, into 
a distinct commonwealth. With sober thought and prayerful considera- 
tion, they deliberated and prepared a constitution, which afterwards was 
destined to form the basis of all the constitutions of our great republic. 

" The men who formed this constitution, deserve to be held in everlasting remem- 
brance. They were not ignorant, or rash, or timid men. They were Ludlow & Haynes, 
& Wolcott & Hopkins & Hooker, & others of kindred spirits ; men of clear minds & 
good hearts ; men who in their views of civil & religious liberty were far in advance of 
their age, &; who under the guidance of a kind Providence, introduced a form of govern- 
ment, which, for two centuries, has secured to the people of this state, a measure of peace 
& liberty, of order & happiness not surpassed by any other people on earth. I say 
emphatically, _/<?r ^wo centtirics. For the charter obtained from Charles II. in 1662, did 
little more than assume & ratify the constitution of 1639. ^^ "^f'^ '^^ great principal unal- 
tered ; & Connecticut was still a republic in everything but a name. Tlie Constitution of 
1818 is altogether conformable, in its principles, to the compact entered into by our 
fathers, differing from it chiefly in its adaptedness to a more numerous population, & to 
the interests of a more widely extended & comj)licated state ofsocietv." 

It was purely republican in its tenor, and is the crowning glory of the 
forefathers of Connecticut. It acknowledged no king but God ; no law 
but the divine law ; no priest but our Great High Priest Jesus Christ. It 
gave liberty to every man, and the right of a freeman to all well disposed 



XXIV HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD 

moral citizens. Even the humblest toiler among them saw how, with that 
sturdy ambition, which has always characterized the people of Connecti- 
cut, he could rise to the highest place of state. It maintained the Congre- 
gational form of worship, which they conceived to be the one most in 
accordance with the church established by Christ and his apostles. An 
oath for the governor and deputy governor, the magistrates and constables 
was also provided. On the nth of April the freemen from all the towns 
met at Hartford, and under the Constitution they had adopted, proceeded 
to elect the following ofificers: 

John Haynes — governor. Roger Ludlow — deputy governor. 

Assistant Magistrates. 
Roger Ludlow, Edward Hopkins, Thomas Wells, John Webster, William Phelps, 

George Wyllys. V _^-«-''''****^ 

Committees or Deputies. 
John Steele, Mr. Spencer, John Pratt, Edward Stebbins, Mr. Gaylord, Henry Wolcott, 
Mr. Stoughton, Mr. Ford, Thurston Raynor, James Boosy, George Hubbard & Richard 
Crab. 

Under the wise government of the framers of the Constitution, the 
colony continued to flourish in a remarkable manner. The liberality of the 
first statute in the code, which set out a declaration or bill of rights to each 
freeman, invited many to settle in Connecticut. By its provision, all men 
of good moral character and industrious habits, were admitted to the rights 
of freemen. The severe law of Massachusetts, which allowed the civil 
franchise only to communicants of the Congregational Church, deprived 
many conscientious persons of that privilege ; consequently when Con- 
necticut offered the only true arid wise platform, whereby men should be 
made freemen, every man felt that his own moral course made him indeed 
a freeman — free in that sense which develops his moral nature through his 
own independent will, governed by love of Christian principle. The mild 
character of the policy and government of Connecticut through the early 
history of her legislation, forms a striking contrast to the policy of Massa- 
chusetts — hence the constitution of Connecticut, which was framed at " a 
period when the light of liberty was wholly darkened in most parts of the 
earth, & the rights of men so little understood, in others, does great honor 
to the liberality, wisdom & far seeing policy of our venerable ancestors." 
It became as a vine planted in the wilderness, healthfully and religiously 
husbanded, a flourishing tree, its branches offering a shelter and an abiding 
place to the weary and oppressed, the grief-stricken, the sin-stricken, the 
humble toiler for the rights of manhood, and the Christian minister and 
soldier; all of whom sat down under its shadow, happy in the rights of 
freemen. 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER I 

1639-1650 

DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT 

Discovery of Uncoway. — Its natural advantages — Roger Ludlow's commission to settle 
Pequonnock. — Indians of the country. — First purchase of Indian lands. — Character of 
the country. — Samp-mortar Rock. — Pequot Swamp. — Named Fairfield. — Ludlow's com- 
panions. — First five home lots. — Ludlow fined. — His apology.— Settlements of Stamford 
and New Haven. — Fear of an English governor. — Connecticut patent. — Indian purchases 
and privileges. — Laws. — Constables. — State archives. — Courts. — Ludlow lays out the 
town. — Additional planters. — Ludlow purchases Norwalk. — Spring of 1640. — Ludlow a 
judge of the General Court. — Colony prison. — Mere-stones. — Tobacco. — First town and 
school-house. — Planters of 1640. — Home Industry. — Improvements of lands. — Trade. — 
Pipe-staves. — Fencing. — Hides. — Flax. — Pequonnock bounds. — Uncoway Indian tribute. 
— Sumptuary laws. — Imports and exports. — Shipping. — Truthfulness. — Trouble with the 
Dutch. — Creditors and Debtors. — Ludlow deputy-governor. — Indian troubles. — Militia 
called out. — Condition of the planters in 1642. — Assistants and Deputies of 1643. — 
Arms forbidden the Indians. — Jurors. — Confederation of the colonies. — Grand-jurors. — 
Marriages. — Plantations guarded — Governor Stuyvesant. — Indians rise at Stamford. — 
General fast proclaimed. — Fairfield Indians troublesome. — Ludlow's prompt action. — 
General combination of the Indians. — General Court laws for town courts, merchandise, 
liquors, inns, land, fences, town clerks, and trade with the Indians. — Mills. — Long 
Island Indians. — Bequest of William Frost to Christ's Church. — Maintenance of ministers 
and students at Harvard College. — Herdsmen. — Marks of private cattle, etc. — Magistrates 
and Deputies of 1645. — Training days. — Colony fair. — General tax for purchasing Say- 
brook fort. — War between Uncas and the Narragansetts. — War declared against the 
Narragansetts. — Peace established in August. — Assistants and Deputies of 1645. — Jury 
trials. — Criminals not allowed to vote. — Governor Haynes to visit the Indian reservations. 
— Dutch and Indian troubles. — Tobacco. — Guards for the Sabbath and lecture days at 
Fairfield. — Seaside annual tax — Whaling. — Magistrates and Deputies of 1648 — Salary of 
governor and deputy-governor. — Bankside farmers. — Stratford ferry. — Uncoway Creek 
mill. — Military laws. — Indians of Stamford.— Uncas sent to Stamford. — Thomas Newton 
leaves Fairfield. — Connecticut patent — Cambridge platform. — Death of Charles I r 



xxvi CONTENTS 

CHAPTER II 

1650-1660 

WARS AND RUMORS OF WARS 

Original plats of Fairfield and Pequonnock. — Planters and heads of families. — Assistant and 
deputies of 1650. — General laws. — Election sermons. — Ludlow a commissioner. — Witch- 
craft. — Trial and execution of Goodwife Knap. — War between England and Holland — 
Trouble with Indians. — Dutch vessel seized. — Supposed plot of the Dutch and Indians. — 
Fears of a general massacre. — Preparations for war. — England sends arms and ammuni- 
tion. — Ludlow chief military officer. — Pirates. — Commissioners at Boston. — Agents sent 
to England for assistance. — Preparations at New Amsterdam. — Severity of colonial laws. 
— Invitation to Charles II. to come to America. — Oliver Cromwell Lord Protector of 
England — John Underhill.— Two Dutch war vessels enter Black Rock harbor. — Death 
of Governor Haynes. — A fast. — Fairfield declares war against the Dutch. — Ludlow leaves 
the country. — His detention by New Haven.— Sails for Virginia. — English fleet arrives at 
Boston. — Peace proclaimed between England and Holland. — War declared against the 
Indians. — Six men to join the army from Fairfield. — General training day. — List of 
estates. — General Thanksgiving. — Major Willard's course. — Pequots awarded land. — 
Care of arms and ammunition. — Trouble with the Indians. — Pits for wolves. — Military 
laws for Indians. — Games — Lotteries. — Town limits extended. — Efforts to pacify 
Indians. — General fast.— Great mortality.— Probate Judges. — Colony tax. — Custom-house 
duties. — Temperance laws. — Commissioners — Law for magistrates. — Thanksgiving 64 



CHAPTER III 

I 660- I 670 

PROGRESS OF FAIRFIELD 

Prosperity of Fairfield. — Military laws. — Change in the Constitution for the election of 
governors. — Pequonnock Indians. — First cavalry force of Fairfield. — Thanksgiving. — 
Patent desired. — Affairs in England. —Fairfield's acknowledged allegiance to Charles II. 
— Annual tax. — Sasqua lands. — Rate of dividend.— Town officers. — James Beers. — Free- 
men. — Indian deed of Sasqua. — Assistants and deputies of 1661. — Norwalk and Strat- 
ford bounds. — Schools. — Efforts to obtain a charter. — Tax. — Wolves. — Leather sealers. — • 
•Assistants and deputies of 1662. — Corn and tobacco. — Cavalry drill. — Fence committee. — 
Richard Ogden's mill. — The charter. — Stamford. — Captain John Youngs. — Salary of 
troopers.— Free trade. — Burning fields. — Trouble with New Haven. — John Adams. — 
Assistants and deputies of 1663. — Particular Courts at Fairfield. — Boundary. — Watch- 
men. — Indians forbidden to enter towns at night. — New Haven and New Amsterdam. — 
Rights of town officers. — Henry Rowland, tavern keeper.— Thomas Pell's purchase of 
Westchester, etc.— Grant to the Duke of York. — Captain John Scott. — Public fast. — 
Fleet from England to reduce the Dutch. — Surrender of the Dutch. — Ecclesiastical 
liberties. — Union with New Haven colony. — War between England and Holland. — 
Pounds. — Rev. Samuel Wakeman.— List of estates. — Superior Courts at Hartford. — The 
King favors Connecticut.— Bankside farmers. — Fairfield county. — Property taken for 



CONTENTS xxvii 

debts. — Bears. — Fairfield to prepare troops, militia and vessels for the war. — Peace 
between England, France and Holland. — Public thanksgiving. — Strangers not to live in 
Fairfield. — Town notes. — County prisons. — Grant of land to Major Nathan Gold. — 
County troops. — Ecclesiastical assembly and committee. — Assistants and deputies of 
1669. — Riding pace. — Lawful measures 102 



CHAPTER IV 
I 670- I 680 

AN INTERESTING DECADE 

Social customs. — Assistant and deputies of 1670. — New Milford. — Sheep raising. — Weights 
and measures. — Minister ajtRye. — Church and School lands. — Richard Osborn. — East 
and west dividends. — Assistant and deputies of 1672. — Rye and Norvvalk committees — 
John Wheeler's grant. — War between England and Holland. — Nathan Gold commander- 
in-chief of Fairfield county. — Colony laws. — Grant of lands to Jehu Burr and Rev. 
Samuel Wakeman. — PubHshed laws. — Postal route. — News of the English capture of 
New Amsterdam. — Action of the General Assembly. — Contemplated reduction of the 
Dutch. — Weapons of warfare. — Town improvements. — Prizes taken by the Dutch. — War 
tax. — Vigilance of Fairfield. — Peace between England and Holland. — Rev. Eliphalet 
Jones sent to Rye. — General training at Fairfield. — Overland mail between New York 
and Boston. — The Duke of York claims all Connecticut. — Governor Andros in New 
York. — General fast in Connecticut — Indian outrages. — Troops disbanded. — Acts for 
religious duties in families. — To Christianize the Indians' marriages. — Sabbaths 144 



CHAPTER V 

I 680- I 690 

THE DECADE OF THE ENGLISH REVOLUTION 

Claim of John Wampus. — First prison on Meeting-house green. — Magistrates of 1680. — Trade 
and Navigation. — Indian troubles. — Fairfield troops. — Bedford. — Edward Randolph, 
deputy for New England. — Henry Wakeley. — Branding. — Ship building. — Purchase of 
Old Indian Field. — Court of admiralty. — Fairfield estates.— Meeting-house repairs. — 
Military colors. — Blight of crops, and great sickness. — Sign post. — Non-residents — 
Pirates. — Silver coins. — Connecticut boundary-line. — Major Gold sent to New York. — 
Danbury. — Death of Charles II. — James II. proclaimed King. — Fairfield patent. — Royal 
letters. — Writs of Quo Warranto.— Edward Randolph. — Highway across Golden-hill. — 
Petition to the King. — Governor Dongan. — Sir Edmund Andros. — Boundary between 
Fairfield and Norwalk. — Nathan Gold, Jehu Burr and John Banks disfranchised. — Wil- 
liam Whiting. — Danbury made a town. — Governor Andros assumes command of Con- 
necticut. — The Charter Oak. — Governor Andros' Council. — John Perry, postman.— ^French 
and Indians. — Major Gold and Jehu Burr reinstated. — Oppressive laws of Andros. — 
Andros' proclamation. — Rev. Increase Mather. — Abdication of James II. — William and 



XXviil CONTENTS 

Mary. — Andros imprisoned. — Connecticut magistrates restored to office. — William and 
Mary proclaimed in New England towns. — Address to the King and Queen. — Major Gold 
ambassador to New York. — Connecticut troops sent to New York. — French and Indian 
depredations. — Rev. Increase Mather's success in England. — Preparation for war with the 
Canadians and Indians 2io 



CHAPTER VI 

1 690- 1 700 

CHURCHES, SCHOOLS, GOVERNMENT 

Prosperity of the town. — French and Indian war. — Loss at Schenectady. — Military rule. — 
Fairfield troops at Albany. — Military tax. — Matthew Sherwood, captain of dragoons. — 
John Burr, captain of militia. — Embargo on grain and provisions. — Agent to England. — 
First colonial congress in America — Magistrates of 1690. — Expedition against Quebec. — 
Tyranny of Leisler. — Friendship of the Mohawks. — Fugitive slaves. — Fairfield village 
and school. — Salt manufactories. — Connecticut charter. — Latin schools. — Fairfield village 
church and members. — Rev. Charles Chauncy. — Death of Rev. Samuel Wakeman. — Rev. 
Joseph Webb, third pastor of Christ's church. — Grover's hill. — Town acts. — Witchcraft. 
— Men and Indians sent to defend Maine and Massachusetts. — Military claims of Col. 
Fletcher. — Major Winthrop sent to England. — Fairfield taxed. — Fairfield village and 
parish. — Postal laws. — Powder money. — Agents sent to the Five Nations.- — Death of 
Queen Mary. — Parish records of Fairfield and church covenant. — Piracy and Captain 
Kidd. — Value of Silver. — Maintenance for ministers. — Expedition to New Foundland. — 
The Earl of Bellomont. — County courts. — Epidemic of 1698. — The king's highway and 
postal routes. — College in Connecticut. — Magistrates of 1699. — Counterfeiting. — Laws for 
Fairfield village. — Official fees. — Preservation of forests. — Founders of Yale college 255 




A MAP OF EARLY FAIRFIELD. 



HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD 

CHAPTER I 
1639 — 1650 

DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT 

Discovery of Uncoway. — Its natural advantages. — Roger Ludlow's commission to settle Pequon- 
nock. — Indians of the country. — First purchase of Indian lands. — Character of the country. — 
Samp-mortar Rock. — Pequot Swamp. — Named Fairfield. — Ludlow's companions. — First five 
home lots. — Ludlow fined. — His apology. — Settlements of .Stamford and New Haven. — 
Fear of an English governor. — Connecticut patent. — Indian purchases and privileges. — Laws. 
— Constables. — State archives. — Courts. — Ludlow lays out the town. — Additional planters. — 
Ludlow purchases Norwalk. — Spring of 1640. — Ludlow a judge of the General Court. — 
Colony prison. — Mere-stones. — Tobacco. — First town and school-house. — Planters of 1640. — 
Home industry. — Improvement of lands. — Trade. — Pipe-staves. — Fencing. — Hides. — Flax. 
— Pequonnock bounds. — Uncoway Indian tribute. — Sumptuary laws. — Imports and exports. — 
Shipping. — Truthfulness. — Trouble with the Dutch. — Creditors and debtors. — Ludlow 
deputy-governor. — Indian troubles. — Militia called out. — Condition of the planters in 1642. 
— Assistants and Deputies of 1643. — Arms forbidden the Indians. — Jurors. — Confederation 
of the colonies. — Grand-jurors. — Marriages. — Plantations guarded. — Governor Stuyvesant. — 
Indians rise at Stamford. — General fast proclaimed. — Fairfield Indians troublesome. — 
Ludlow's prompt action. — General combination of the Indians. — General Court laws for 
town courts, merchandise, liquors, inns, land, fences, town clerks, and trade with the Indians. 
— Mills.— Long Island Indians — Bequest of William Frost to Christ's Church. — Maintenance 
of ministers and students at Harvard College. — Herdsmen. — Marks of private cattle, etc. — 
Magistrates and Deputies of 1645. — Training days. — Colony fair. — General tax for pur- 
chasing Saybrook fort. — War between Uncas and the Narragansetts. — War declared against 
the Narragansetts. — Peace established in August. — Assistants and Deputies of 1645. — 
Jury trials. — Criminals not allowed to vote. — Governor Haynes to visitthe Indian reservations. 
— Dutch and Indian troubles. — Tobacco. — Guards for the Sabbath and lecture days at 
Fairfield. — Seaside annual tax. — Whaling. — Magistrates and Deputies of 1648. — Salary of 
governor and deputy-governor. — Bankside farmers. — Stratford ferry. — Uncoway Creek mill. — 
Military laws. — Indians of Stamford. — Uncas sent to Stamford. — Thomas Newton leaves 
Fairfield. — Connecticut patent. — Cambridge platform. — Death of Charles I. 

In the subjugation of the powerful tribe of Indians known as the 
Pequots, in the great fight at Sasqua or Pequot-swamp, the pioneers of 
Connecticut achieved an important victory, one which in its results has 
scarcely a parallel in the history of warfare. Peace with the much-dreaded 
savages who roamed at will about the feeble settlements, and in fact 
throughout all New England, was thereby secured. Prosperity followed 
quickly after days of great adversity ; and the planters found themselves 
not only in position to extend their own borders, but to enlarge the juris- 

I 



2 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1639 

diction of the colony by beginning plantations along the coast of Long 
Island Sound. 

In noting the many providences of God which overshadowed them 
during this war, one of special interest to the sons and daughters of Fair- 
field, was the discovery of the fair fields of Uncoway.* For want of pas- 
ture for their cattle, good land for cultivation, and a bountiful supply of 
water, many of the planters of Plymouth and Massachusetts had emigrated 
to the banks of the Connecticut: but here at Uncoway they found the 
'long sought for country, beautiful beyond all other spots which they had 
yet discovered. Here were meadow lands rich with the deposits of ages; 
•grand old forests and majestic hills overlooking some of the most pictur- 
esque scenes in New England. Here, too, were fresh springs, rivers, 
ponds and streamlets of pure sweet waters ; and sweeping as far as the 
eye could reach from east to west rolled the blue waters of Long Island 
Sound, across which, against the southern horizon, lay Sewanhacky, the 
Island of Shells or Long Island. 

To return to this beautiful country, and to rear on the scene of the 
great Pequot victory an English town, became the aim of the deputy- 
governor, Roger Ludlow. He succeeded in obtaining a commission from 
the General Court of Connecticut to begin a plantation at Pequonnqck, 
during the summer or early autumn of 1639 ; and with four others set out 
on his journey thither. Upon his arrival he entered into a treaty with 
the chief sachems of Pequonnock, of whom he purchased " all the lands 
lying west of the Stratford bounds to the Sasqua or Mill river, and from 
the Mill river south-westward to the east bounds of the Maxumux Indian 
lands; and from the Sound, seven or eight miles into the wilderness," all 
of which lands were claimed by the Pequonnock Indians.f 

The Indians of this region were no doubt glad to enter into a friendly 
alliance with the English, whom, since their remarkable victory over 
the Pequots, they must have regarded as beings endowed with super- 
natural power. In order to secure protection from their deadly enemies 
the Mohawks, who yearly made a descent upon them to collect a tribute 
which was rigidly exacted, they agreed to give Governor Ludlow an 
annual tribute of furs, wampum and corn. 

* In the town records the Indian name of Fairfield is almost invariably spelled Uncoway : in 
the colonial Records Uncoa and Uncowaye. Unquowa, while a more modern style of orthography, 
is not as soft in its pronounciation as that of Uncoa. The author has adopted that found in the 
Town Records, as the one most familiar to the ear of the early settlers. There is but little doubt, 
however, that the accent should fall on the second syllable, and that Unc^iwa and Un<rc7waye were 
accented alike. 

f Unfortunately, the deed of this purchase has been lost ; but is happily supplied in the deed 
dated 20 March, 1656. Letter A, Fairfield Town Deeds, p. 437. 



1639] DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT 3 

There were several hundred Indians divided into clans who claimed 
the lands of Pcquonnock, Uncoway and Sasqua. The Pequonnock 
Indians appear to have been a branch of the Paugusctts, living on the 
east side of the Housatonic, and the Wepawags on the west side of the 
river. They were at one time supposed to be two distinct tribes ; but it 
has been decided by students of the aborigines of Connecticut, that they 
were one and the same, as the names of their chief sachems are found 
attached to deeds of lands, both of Milford and Stratford. The territories 
of this clan stretched several miles along the coast and included the Nor- 
walkc Indians. After the Indians of Pequonnock made a formal sale of 
their lands to Roger Ludlow, they settled upon Golden Hill — so named 
from the mica found in the soil — and were ever afterwards called the 
Golden Hill tribe. 

The Uncoway Indians occupied the territory lying west of Pequon- 
nock, to the eastern borders of Sasqua or Mill river. The name of Sas- 
quannock appears to have been applied to all the lands lying west of this 
river, as far as the Sasco river. The name of Munchunchoser Sasqug * 
appears to have been given to the lands and small islands in Pine 
creek and on Sasco hill, lying on the east side of Mill river bordering 
the Sound. The Maxumux Indians claimed the lands west of the small 
stream called Sasco river, about a mile along the coast to the Compang 
or Compaw^ lands, and extending into the wilderness to the borders of the 
Aspetuck river. The Compangs or Compaws occupied the land west of 
Maxumux as far as the Saugatuck river. North of these, scattered along 
the borders of the Aspetuck river, lived the Aspetucks.f The sachem of 
this tribe was called the chief sachem of Aspetuck and Sasquannock or 
Sasquaugh. ;}: 

The principal fort of the Pequonnock and Uncoway Indians was at 
the head of the stream or cove which runs from Black Rock harbor, a de- 
scription of which, and the number of Indians living in it, has happily 
been preserved by Thomas Wheeler, sr., a descendant of one of the first 
settlers at Black Rock. It is as follows : 

"Captain Thomas Wheeler (the first settler of Black creek village in 1640) came to 
Black Rock, and at the old lot built a stone house with a flat roof of plank, on which he 

* Will of William Frost, Col. Rec of Conn., i., 465. Will of Thomas Wheeler, sr., Fair- 
field Probate Records, 164S-56. 

There seems to be no good reason for this name being attached to the Maxumux lands. 

t The Aspetuck is a branch of the Saugatuck, and forms part of the boundary line between 
Weston and Greenfield, flows through Redding and has its source in Danbury. 

A branch of the Aspetuck Indians also lived on the borders of a small river of the same name 
at New Milford, which empties into the Housatonic. 

t Col. Rec. Conn., iii., 282. 



4 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1639 

mounted two four pounders, one pointed towards the mouth of the harbor, the other at an 
Indian fort situated at the head of the harbor, now known by the name of Old Fort. 
This place the Fairfield Indians had built for their defense against some of the interior 
tribes with whom they were perpetually at war. It was composed of palisades joined to- 
gether, and at each corner a room was built out with port holes. It contained about an 
acre of ground, and was garrisoned by about two hundred Indians." 

The almost impregnable, natural fortress at Pequot swamp, was sur- 
rounded on all sides by a wide ditch of bogs and water, thickly grown 
trees and a dense under-growth of alder and birch. 

As the English purchased lands of the Indians, reservations of sufifi- 
cient numbers of acres for their use were set apart to satisfy them. Besides 
the Golden Hill reservation, the Uncoways retained several acres near Old 
Fort, on the east side of the Uncoway river, upon which they lived for 
many years after the town was settled. They also reserved a number of 
acres of samp-mortar rock and mill plain. " In the rich valley south of 
the rock was a large Indian town ; and at the very foot of the precipice 
there appears to have been a burying ground." '^^' The Sasqua Indians 
reserved lands at Sasco, a little west of Pequot swamp. The Maxumux 
Indian reservation lay east of Frost point and on Clapboard hill. 

The tract of land purchased by Roger Ludlow for the town of Fair- 
field embraced within its boundaries the Uncoway and Sasqua rivers, the 
fine harbors of Pequonnock and Black Rock, and a good harbor at Sasqua. 
The Black Rock harbor is one of the finest on the New England coast, 
vessels of large size being able to enter at any time of the tide. The 
principal islands in 1639 were Fairweather, which forms the east chop of 
Black Rock harbor, and Thompson's island, now called Penfield reef, and 
the Fairfield bar. The latter island, except at unusual high tides, in early 
days, was reached from the main land by a small strip of land. It is de- 
scribed by some of the oldest and most intelligent gentlemen of Fairfield 
as having been an island about a mile or more in length and covered with 
meadows, upon which cattle grazed and a few trees and berries were 
found. t There was also Flat and several small inland islands, particularly 
in Sasco neck, now called Pine creek. 

* Gazetteer of Connecticut and Rhode Island, by John E. Pease and John M. Niles, p. 171. 

f Testimony of Capt. Anson Bibbins, Mrs. Abram Benson and Mr. Edmund Hobart, of 
Fairfield. 

The east end of this island was protected from the action of the waves and storms by a high, 
strong breastwork of rocks and cobble-stones. Several years after the settlement of the town, 
vessels from Boston, New York and other places carried away cargoes of these cobble-stones for 
paving purposes, until the town passed a vote prohibiting their removal. Meanwhile, the loss of 
those already carried away caused the waves and tides to sweep over the island, washing away the 



1639] DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT 5 

The surface of the country on the Sound, while moderately even, grad- 
ually rises in a succession of fine rolling hills and gentle declivities. Large 
quantities of peat were found by the early settlers in the swamps, of 
which they made considerable use for fuel. By many it was thought val- 
uable for manure, which, when laid upon the ground in heaps, soon crum- 
bled and irnprovcd fields under cultivation. The sea-weed of the Sound 
also proved a valuable fertilizer. 

The soil, which is mainly of gravelly loam, is described in the early 
history of the settlement as generally rich and very productive. There 
are also sections of primitive argillaceous loam and some tracts of allu- 
vial soil. No minerals of value exist. A copper mine is mentioned in 
the will of Lieutenant Richard Hubbell of Stratficld, as situated " a little 
above y* Pine swamp at y" upper end of Stratfield bounds."* At Pequon- 
nock and at Greenfield there are quarries of freestone. A whetstone 
quarry is mentioned in the early records of the town. The most impor- 
tant one, however, is the Bluestone Hill quarry, about a mile north of 
Greenfield centre, which the first settlers used for grave-stones and build- 
ing purposes. 

Fine oaks of all kinds abounded in early days, as well as chestnut, 
hickory, cherry, several kinds of maples, beech, birch, white and red ash, 
elm, butternut, white wood, buttonwood, basswood, poplar, sassafras, 
hemlock, spruce, cedar and pine. The white wood, notable for its height 
and magnitude, made excellent boards and clapboards. Beech trees of 
considerable height extended along the beach from the Uncoway river to 
Kenzie's point, the roots of which, with those of the beach-grass, formed 
a strong breastwork against the encroachment of the tides and storms. 
Noble pines covered the islands of Pine creek, from which it derived its 
name. 

Wild fruits were abundant, and a great variety of wild flowers of ex- 
quisite texture and tints adorned the woods, meadows and hill-sides. The 
Sound furnished some of the most exquisite sea-mosses to be found on the 
New England coast. The deer, bear, wolf, fox, otter, mink, muskrat, and 
an endless number of squirrels afforded furs valuable for barter. Wild 
cats, bears, wolves and other ferocious animals were discovered in large 
numbers at " Devil's-den," which took its name from that fact. A descrip- 

sand and soil, and making anew current for the tide, which rushed between the Cows.ind Penfield 
reef with great force, throwing, in high winds and storms, rocks, stones, sand and gravel from the 
east and west — forming in the course of time the natural causeway, upon the south-east end of 
which the government has erected a light-house. Edmund Hobart states that many of the stones 
on this causeway have been thrown up in cakes of ice in the winter by the wind and waves.' 
* Fairfield Probate Records, 1734, 



6 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1639 

tion of the sources of wealth at Fairfield in those days is given in William 
Wheeler's journal. " Land was cheap and produced large crops. Labor 
was cheap — there were many Indians who would work for small wages. In 
those golden times there was plenty of game — ducks of which there were 
twenty species of black ducks and broadbills, hundreds if not thousands in 
a flock, which were very tame — wild geese very fat in large numbers but 
more shy. Pigeons in Autumn so wonderfully plenty that forty dozen 
have been caught in a net in one morning at one spot. Black Rock beach 
was the place to take them, where the pigeon houses were situated at short 
distances apart. Pigeons flew so thick one year that at noon, it is said, the 
sun could not be seen for two hours — prodigious numbers were seen — being 
tired alighting in the sound, and perishing in the water. The waters 
brought forth abundantly 'various kinds of fish — shad in prodigious quan- 
tities, but bass were the fish they caught most plentifully, taking in at 
Black Rock sixty or eighty in a night ; occasionally some of them weighing 
as heavy as twenty-eight pounds. Clams, oysters and escallops more than 
could be eaten.' Eels and smelt swarmed in the waters. White-fish were 
so plentiful that they were drawn in by nets, and distributed for manure 
upon the lands. Beside these, lobsters, crabs, mussels and other inferior 
shell-fish were found in great quantities. The fresh water streams afforded 
trout, lamper-eels and turtles of considerable size. Occasionally whales 
made their appearance in the Sound ; and the porpoise was a frequent 
spectacle, measuring his length in the air and then disappearing beneath 
the waters." 

Among the natural curiosities of the town is a spot called samp-mortar 
rock. This rock forms a distinct feature in the geographical liistory of 
Fairfield. It occupies a central position on the west side of Mill river, 
about two miles from the Sound, between Fairfield and Greenfield. Ledge 
upon ledge of huge rocks project from the side of a hill, forming a preci- 
pice of about eighty feet in height. A granitic ridge runs northerly for 
some distance. A gradual and easy ascent leads to the summit of the hill, 
upon which is to be found a large flat rock, on which patches of lichens 
and mosses abound ; and in which, almost on the very brink of this preci- 
pice, is a round opening in the form of a mortar, capable of holding about 
half a bushel of corn. At a convenient distance is an indenture which 
the Indians are said to have used for a seat while pulverizing corn in the 
mortar; and just below it is another smaller indenture for supporting the 
feet. This novel corn mill gave the name of samp-mortar to the place. 

For many years tourists believed that this excavation was a work of 
art hewn out by the Indians ; but as in many of the rocks beneath it are 



1639] DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT 7 

found like holes of smaller size, modern scientists are induced to believe it 
the result of the action of water at some glacial period. Calm reasoning, 
however, naturally inclines to the hypothesis, that whatever effect the 
floods of time produced, the Indians had much to do with the depth and 
size of this mortar ; and that if " the constant dropping of water will wear 
away a stone," certainly the action of an Indian chisel or stone hatchet 
against stone, will in a much shorter time make like progress. It has been 
remarked that "this mortar, which may be considered as a primitive grain- 
mill, is not more important as a monument of the aboriginal inhabitants 
than as an illustration of the origin and progress of the arts. It was a 
great improvement upon the more simple and rude method of pulverizing 
corn which preceded it — that of pounding the kernels between two stones. 
To such rude and simple discoveries as this, can the most noble and useful 
inventions in the arts be traced." " 

Pequot swamp was until 1835 another natural curiosity of the town. 
It was so named from the famous swamp fight between the New England- 
ers and the Pequots, which will ever make it remarkable in the annals of 
local history. The rise of ground in its centre, which had the appearance 
of an artificial mound, was a natural hill. For a long time it was supposed 
to be the work of the Indians, and filled with their graves; but when 
Pequot Avenue was opened in 1835, it became necessary to make a passage 
through it. This was done by tunneling through the centre, as the ground 
above was frozen hard. Most of the men of the place were sea captains, 
who employed their leisure hours in the winter in making this excavation. 
They found but one Indian skeleton, and to their surprise discovered, by 
the different strata of earth, that the supposed mound was a natural hill, f 
The open hill for many years formed walls on either side of the road, which 
are now leveled, so that only a faint vestige of the hill is to be seen. This 
historic swamp lies northwest of the residence of the late Hon. Jonathan 
Godfrey, of Southport, and only a few rods west of the New York, 
Nev/ Haven and Hartford Railroad, which crosses Pequot Avenue. 

Supplied with everything which opens avenues of comfort and wealth, 
the pioneers of Uncoway could scarcely fail to look forward with happy 
anticipations for the prosperity of their town. Others were soon induced 
to join them from Massachusetts and the Connecticut river settlements. 

* Gazetteer of Connecticut, p. 171. 

t Testimony of Messrs. Jonathan Godfrey, Francis D. Perry, and Paul Sheffield of Southport, 
who witnessed the excavation. This highway, which was also the old stage-road from the village 
to the Kini^'s highway, is the only street which rightly should bear the name of Pequot Avenue ; 
but by some singular misunderstanding the name has been attached lo one of the main streets of 
Southport. 



8 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1639 

The Indian name of Uncoway, signifying ^is* further, gave place to that of 
Fairfield, which was happily applied to the fair fields and rich meadows 
of the town. 

Unfortunately, Fairfield, like Windsor and the other early settlements, 
was not supplied with proper record books until 1648, at which date the 
town and probate records still extant commenced. The statement that 
Roger Ludlow carried away the early town records was a traditional one, 
and without foundation. The town and probate records, which began in 
1648, were continued without interruption for many years after he left the 
country. He was not the town clerk when he left Fairfield. That ofifice 
was occupied by William Hill, jr. More than a hundred .years after Roger 
I^udlow left America, Letter A of Town Deeds was missing, and not 
found until within the present century, when it was restored to its place in 
the record office. It contains over six hundred pages of fine and close 
writing in the English court hand. The volume is now over two hundred 
years old, and this and the probate records and Letter B of Town Votes 
are the oldest relics of the pen tracings and autographs of our fore- 
fathers. The first notice of the recovery of this volume is due to the Rev. 
Thomas Davis of Green's Farms, who refers to it in his admirable bi-cen- 
tennial address delivered at Green's Farms, March 29, 1839.* 

The work which the pioneers of Connecticut accomplished within the 
space of four years was wonderful. They had but little time for aught 
beyond the protection of their homes and firesides, and the labor neces- 
sary for the well-being of the colony. All documents of value were by 
an order of the General Court recorded at Hartford. Town deeds of 
lands and records were kept in a fragmentary manner. Twelve of the 
first pages of the first alphabetical book, entitled. Letter A, Town Deeds 
of Fairfield, and also several pages from Letter B, of Town Votes, 
which were begun as early as the town and probate records (1648) have 
been lost. Fortunately, however, in the latter part of Book A of 
Town Deeds is to be found the following valuable record, which at 
once supplies, not only the names of those who first accompanied Governor 

* The best proof of this fact was found by the author — in a volume of land records in the 
state archives of the capitol at Hartford. Attached to a paper, giving liberty to Henry Gray and 
John Green to settle at Maxumux, is the following statement made in William Hill's hand-writing : 
"The above said is a true copy of the original paper that I found on file, of the Court acts left 
with me as dark by Mr Ludlow ; the frontispiece of the original writing I have not copied, it 
being so defaced and worn through age, that I could not take a copy thereof, but found it was an 
agreement between the town of Fairfield and the above said parties and the Court, being the tenth 
.day of November, 1648. 

(Signed) William Hill, Clark." 



1639] DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT g 

Ludlow to Fairfield, but gives a valuable clue to the first laying out of 
the town. It is as follows : 

"The testimony of John Green aj^ed fifty eight years, or there-abouts, testifies as fol- 
loweth : that about the first settHng of the town of P'airfield, Thomas Staples, Thomas New- 
ton, Edward Jessop & Edmund Strickland, having home-lots in y« rear of y<= lots that Mr. 
Ludlow's lot lay in, y= said four above sd. persons, agreed that y^ sd. Thomas Staples 
should take his lot at y= rear of all y« four lots, & cut all those lots so much y« shorter, 
which according to y^ first laying out there, was as long as Mr. Ludlow's lot, but giving 
y« said Thomas Staples some allowance in measure, he had his lot taken out of y<= rear of 
all their lots, & upon y= sd. Thomas Staples remove at y^ rear of ye lots: ye sd. Thomas 
Newton, Edward Jessop & Edmund Strickland did engage to y^ sd. Thomas Staples to 
make & maintain forever y^ reare fence for their respective lots that butted upon y« sd. 
Thomas Staples lot, & further this deponent saith not. 
This is a true copy of Taken upon oath before 

y= original recorded & me this 28. Nov. 1672. 

compared this i. of Feb 1688. William Hill, 

by me, Nathan Gold, Recorder. Commissioner." 

Town Book A. of Deeds, page 593. 

Turning from this important record to the first pages of tlie book in 
which it is found, the names of Edward Jessop and Emund Strickland 
have disappeared from the square. Edward Jessop early sold most of his 
lands at Fairfield and went to Stamford, and afterwards settled at New- 
town, Long Island. Edmund Strickland also went to Long Island and 
settled at Middleburg. Their home lots at Fairfield were afterwards occu- 
pied by Robert Hawkins and John Barlo\y, sr. The boundaries of Roger 
Ludlow's land and that of Thomas Newton's fully corroborate, as will be 
seen, the statement of John Green : 

"4. Feb. 1653. Granted to Roger Ludlow from the town one home-lot of five acres, 
more or less, bounded northeast with the highway ; northwest with the highway ; south- 
west with the land of Thomas Morehouse ; & on the southeast with the highway. * 

2. Dec. 1653. Alexander Bryant of Milford, purchased of Thomas Newton a dwell- 
ing-house, barn & home-lot, containing two acres & a half, more or less, bounded on 
the north east with the land of Thomas Morehouse, sometimes John Barlow's ; south east 
with the highway ; south west with the Land of Robert Hawkins ; & on the north west 
with the land of Thomas Staples. "f 

From these two records it will be seen that the five lots in this square 
were in 1653 occupied by Roger Ludlow, Thomas Morehouse, Thomas 
Newton, Robert Hawkins and Thomas Staples, the two lots first owned 
by Edward Jessop and Edmund Strickland having passed, before the town 

* A, Town Deeds, p. S6. t A, Town Deeds, p. 56. 



lO 



HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1639 



records were begun, into the possession of Robert Hawkins and John 
Barlow, sr. The lot of the latter again passed into the possession of 
Thomas Morehouse. 

This square, which should always bear the name of Ludlow square, is the 
one lying north of that on which the Congregational church now stands. 
Roger Ludlow had also a pasture lot granted him of six acres " on the 
northeast side of the highway that runs down by the home-lot, bounded 
southeast, southwest, & northwest by the commons & highways, & north- 
east by the Windsor-field," the present residence of Mrs. Abraham Ben- 
son. 

Having accomplished the object of his journey, Roger Ludlow re- 
turned to Hartford and appeared before the session of the General Court, 
held on the loth of October, 1639. ^^ ^^^^ been fined ten shillings for 
absence from a court held on the loth of September. He therefore took 
occasion at this time to apologize for his absence, as well as for having 
begun a plantation at Uncoway instead of Pequonnock, He said : " Mr. 
Deputy informed the Court that he hath understood since his return, of- 
fence hath beene taken att some of his p^'cedings in his late jorney to 
Pequannocke, and the parts thereabouts : he therefore desired to make 
knowne what had beene done by him therein, w*^*" was this; Att his com- 
ing downe to Quinnipiocke the hand of the Lord was uppon him in taking 
away some of his Cattle, w'^'' prevented him in some of his purposes there 
for selling some of them : Afterwards att his coiriing to Pequannocke he 
found cause to alter his former thoughts of wintering his Cattle there, and 
understanding that the beginnings of a Plantacon beyond that was not 
caryed on according to the agreement made with those who were inter- 
essed in ordering the same, and that by some things w'=^ appeared to him, 
his apprehensions were that some others intended to take up the sayd 
place, who had not acquainted this Court with their purposes therein, w*^** 
might be preiudiciall to this Comonweaith, and knowing himselfe to be one 
of those to whom the disposel of that plantacon was comitted, he ad- 
ventured to drive his Cattle thither, make provition for them there, and to 
sett out himselfe and some others house lotts to build on there, and sub- 
mitts himselfe to the Court to judge whether he hath transgressed the 
Comission or nott." 

The court, taking the circumstances of the case into consideration, saw 
fit to reprimand Ludlow, for having transgressed the bounds of his com- 
mission. They did not see why he should be excused for his neglect of 
duty in not having given notice to the court "of what he did, notwith- 
standing his allegations of the inconveniences which otherwise might have 



1639] DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT II 

occurred : yet, that the thing might more fully appear as he had repre- 
sented, & that matters might be ordered in a comely manner," Gov- 
ernor John Hayncs and Mr. Thomas Wells were appointed a committee 
"to repair thither & take a view of the aforesaid occasions, & if, in 
their judgment, both persons & things settled by him, be soe as com- 
fortably be confirmed, they remain as they are, or otherwise altered att 
their discrestion ; & they are to report things how they find them, to the 
next General Court, that a full issue may be given to the matter in hand, 
as things shall then appear." '" 

Governor Haynes and Mr, Wells were also appointed to administer 
the oath of fidelity to the planters of Pequonnock; make such free as they 
saw fit ; order them to send two deputies to the two General Courts in 
April and September; and for all suits of law under forty shillings to hold 
court among themselves, and to choose seven men among them with 
liberty to appeal to the General Court. Seargant Nichols f was for the 
time being appointed to train and exercise the men in military discipline. 
The committee were also to consult with Mr. Prudens, of the Stratford 
plantation, and to settle the difference between them and the Pequonnock 
planters as to who had most right to the places in controversy, and most 
need of them, and to determine whatever was " most agreeable to equity 
and reason." 

The reference made by Ludlow " to the beginnings of a plantation 
beyond Uncoa," was without dou-bt to Rippowams or Stamford, which 
had been visited by Andrew Ward, Robert Coe, Francis Bell, and others 
from Wethersfield, about the same time he received a commission to 
begin a settlement at Pequonnock.:}; 

The colony of New Haven was settled in 1638, by the Rev. John 
Davenport, Theophilus Eaton and other gentlemen of influence and 
wealth, who arrived at Boston on the 26th of July, 1637. " Having heard 
of the pursuit of the Pequots, & the fine tract along the shore from 
Saybrook to Fairfield, Mr. Eaton & others in the fall of 1637, made a 
journey to Connecticut, & having explored the coast along the Sound, 
pitched upon Ouinnipiac for their settlement." They undoubtedly in- 

*Coll. Record, Connecticut i, 35, 36. 

f Probably Isaac Nichols, of Stratford. Ibid., i, 36. 

X It does not appear, as has been suggested, that Ludlow referred to Stratford, which was 
settled about the same time that the settlement of Fairfield was begun, for he would then have had 
no excuse for seizing upon lands further west than his commission granted. The fear, he states 
" that some others intended to take up the said place, who had not acquainted that court with 
their purposes." led him to push on and seize upon the lands west of Pequonnock, as far as the 
little Sasqua river. 



12 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1639 

tended to form a colony of suflficient size and strength to exist separate 
and apart from all others. The Connecticut colony, therefore, had reasons 
for being on the alert, lest the opulent planters of New Haven should by 
purchase of the natives lay claim to all the lands lying along the Sound. 
These planters who accompanied the Rev. John Davenport to New Eng- 
land were men of good character and wealth, who, out of love and respect 
to their pastor, had followed him to the New World. Unlike the suffering 
colonists of Plymouth, Massachusetts and Connecticut, who had spent the : 
money they brought to this country in the purchase of cattle, and neces- • 
sary supplies to be forwarded from England, they were new comers, with i 
handsome fortunes at command. Mr. Theophilus Eaton had been deputy- • 
governor of the East India company, an ambassador from England to the 
King of Denmark, and was a rich London merchant. Their project was 
to have a great trading city in New England, and to found a distinct 
colony.* 

It would appear from the apology of Ludlow, that the planters who 
had gone from Wethersfield to Rippowams, had not gained permission 
from the General Court of the Connecticut colony to begin that settle- 
ment; but on the contrary, had joined the colony of New Haven, the 
names of Andrew Ward and Francis Bell having been enrolled in the 
list of New Haven freemen in 1639 from Rippowams. 

Ludlow, therefore, had the sagacity and far-seeing policy to secure as 
much land west of Pequonnock, as would entitle the colony of Connec- 
ticut to Black Rock, one of the finest harbors on the Sound, and the two 
excellent harbors of Pequonnock and Sasqua or Mill river; also to claim 
by purchase from the natives, all the lands stretching from the west 
bounds of Stratford to the western limits of the Sasqua Indian lands. 
The wisdom of his course was evident, when, in July, 1640, Captain Tur- 
ner, as agent of the New Haven colony, bought of Ponus, sagamore of 
Toquams, and of Wascussue, sagamore of Shippan, all the grounds 
belonging to the said Sagamores, except a piece of ground which Ponus 
reserved for himself and the other Indians to plant upon. Thus the 
plantation of Rippowams or Toquams and Shippan fell under the jurisdic- 1 
tion of the New Haven colony. In October following the planters of 
Rippowams or Stamford purchased this plantation from the New Haven' 
planters.f 

The colonists throughout New England greatly feared that a governori 
might be sent out from England. Each colony therefore became zealous- 
to acquire as much territory as possible, and to begin plantations as; 

* Trumbull's History of Connecticut. f New Haven Colony Record, i, 45. 



1639] DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT I3 

speedily as safety would permit. The leading men came to New England 
to establish a republican form of government, to elect their chief magis- 
trate from among themselves, and to be a republic in all save the name, 
— while as yet in their infancy they were under a monarchy. Each 
founder of a new colony aspired to be its chief magistrate ; hence there 
arose a strife between the Connecticut and New Haven colonies to enlarge 
their territories, as a matter of political power. 

Connecticut and New Haven were, in reality, without patents to their 
lands. They were simply subjects of the mother-country, having seized 
upon and occupied a portion of the lands claimed by the Warwick 
patent. This patent was conveyed on the 19th of March, 163 1, by the 
Earl of Warwick, president of the Council of Plymouth, under his hand 
and seal, to the Honorable Viscount Say and Seal, Robert Lord Brooks, 
Robert Lord Rich and their associates to the number of eleven, and to 
their heirs and assigns and associates forever. It embraced : " All that 
part of New England in America, which lies & extends itself from a 
river there called the Narragansett river, the space of forty leagues upon 
a straight line near the sea shore towards the southwest, as the coast lieth 
towards Virginia, accounting three English miles to the league, & also 
all & singular the lands & hereditaments whatsoever, lying & being within 
the bounds aforesaid, north & south in latitude & breadth, & in length & 
longitude, of & within all the breadth aforesaid, throughout the main 
lands there, from the western ocean to the south sea," '"^ or the Pacific 
Ocean. 

It also included all the islands within its limits on the Atlantic and 
Pacific coasts. Accounting three English miles to a league, gives the 
coast line of this patent 120 miles. "This grant extends from Point 
Judith to New York ; & from thence in a west line to the south sea ; 
& if we take the Narragansett river, in its whole length, this tract will 
extend as far north as Worcester: it comprehends the whole of the 
colony of Connecticut & much more, t 

Both the Connecticut and New Haven planters, under these circum- 
stances, were eager to obtain, as early as a favorable opportunity offered, 
a valid title to the lands they occupied. :{: 

* In 1630 this tract was granted by the Council of Plymouth to the Earl of Warwick, and the 
same year confirmed to him by a patent from King Charles I. ; hence it is called the Warwick 
Patent, and the Old Patent of Connecticut. 

f Manuscript of President Clap. See Trumbull's History of Connecticut, I, 28. 

t The great mistake into which some of our early historians have fallen, has been that of repre- 
senting the planters of Connecticut patentees of Viscount Say and Seal, Lord Brook and others, 
whereas, in reality, they never were patentees of those gentlemen. This error appears to have 



14 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1639 

" In purchasing lands, & in making settlements in the wilderness, the 
first planters of Connecticut expended great estates ; & many of the 
adventurers expended more than the lands & buildings were worth, with 
all the improvements which had been made upon them." After the Pequot 
war, Uncas and the chiefs of other tribes of Connecticut claimed a native 
title to their old possessions. The colonists therefore made peace with them 
by purchasing of their sachem from time to time as much land as they 
required. Uncas who had been presented with a hundred of the Pequot 
captives, having been joined by many other Indians, could number about 
five hundred warriors. As the successor of Sassicus in the Pequot line of 
descent, he claimed the old Pequot grounds at New London and Groton. 
The colony therefore purchased of him and his successors, all the lands 
lying within the Mohegan country, and afterwards all the particular towns 
where a " settlement was made." They were often obliged to renew their 
league with him and his successors, the Mohegan sachems, and to make 
new presents and to take new deeds, in order to preserve the peace of the 
colony.* This led to a law being enacted in 1638, whereby the planters 
were not allowed to purchase lands of the Indians, unless they fully ac- 
knowledged themselves the lawful possessors of the soil. Every town was 
required by the General Court to lay out a reservation for the Indians of 
whom they had purchased their lands, and to give them the privilege of 
hunting and fishing within their limits, as well as to cut firewood, which 
custom continued for more than a hundred years after the settlements 
began. The General Court protected them from their enemies, and from 
insult, fraud and violence from the planters. At the beginning of a plan- 
arisen from the idea, that the contract made by the General Court of Connecticut with Mr. Fen- 
vvicli, for the purchase of the fort at Saybrook and its appurtenances and lands upon the river, was 
" a purchase by Connecticut of the jurisdiction right to the territory included in the Earl of War- 
wick's granfto Viscount Say & Seal & his associates ; or in other words as an assignment to 
the colony of the old patent of 1632 by Mr. Fen wick & his co-proprietors. Tt will be seen, 
however, on referring to the agreement itself, that it is merely a contract of sale of the fort at Say- 
brook & its appurtenances & lands upon the river — with a pledge on the part of Mr. Fenwick, to 
convey to the colony, ' if it came into his poiuer,' all the lands between Saybrook & the Narragansett 
river, included in the old patent. Such conveyance does not appear ever to have been made ; on 
the contrary, repeated admissions of the General Court, show that it was not made, & that so far 
as receiving any legal assignment or transfer of the old patent the colony was (so late as 1661) 
without eveft a copy of it, & not fully informed of the rights & privileges which it was supposed 
to confer. The settlers of the River towns had not — before or after the agreement with Mr. 
Fenwick — any right of jurisdiction, except such as grew out of occupation, purchase of the native 
proprietors, or, (in the case of the Pequot country) by right of conquest." — Col. Rec. Conn., i. 
Appendix, No. III., 569. 

* Probably the sobriquet of an "Indian-giver" arose from this desire of the Indians to take 
back what they had already sold or given away. 



1639] DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT jc 

tation, the law required when any company of Indians sat down near it, 
that they should declare who their chief sachem was, and that the said 
sachem should pay to the English such trespasses as his men committed 
by spoiling or killing cattle or swine, either with traps, dogs or arrows. If 
guilty of Clime against the English, they were to be delivered up to justice 
by their sachems. 

Before following Ludlow back to Uncoway, certain acts of the General 
Court for the benefit of the towns are worthy of notice. At the same 
time that he made his apology before the court, he assisted in preparing 
and offering the following laws, viz. : that all the towns within the juris- 
diction should each have power to dispose of their own undisposed 
lands, "and all other commodities arising out of their own limits bounded 
out by the court, the liberties of the great rivers excepted ; " to choose 
their own officers ; to impose penalties for any breach of the law ; to 
estreat and levy the same, and for non-payment to distrain either by seiz- 
ing upon personal estate or to sell their houses or lands ; to choose 3, 5, or 
7 once every year of their chief inhabitants, one of whom should be chosen 
moderator, who should have a casting voice, in case there should be an 
equal number of votes; which said persons should meet together every 
two months, to hear and determine all controversies either by trespass or 
debts not exceeding 40^, provided both parties lived in the same town ; 
and that any two of them should summon parties to appear before their 
court to answer an action ; to administer the oath to witnesses ; and to 
give judgment and execution against offending parties. In case of dis- 
satisfaction, the aggrieved parties were given power to appeal to a higher 
court. 

Each town was ordered to be provided with a ledger book with an 
alphabetical index, and each book numbered alphabetically ; and to choose 
a town-clerk or register, who should immediately register every man's 
land. Every landholder was required to take a record of his lands to the 
town-clerk within three months under a penalty of lo^- a month. No 
bargains or mortgages of lands were to be accounted of any value until 
they were recorded. At each session of the General Court, and once every 
year, the constables in the several towns, were required to read or cause to 
read, in some public meeting, all such laws as were then in force. 

The office of a constable in those days was one of great importance. 
" He was the arm of the law and the embodiment of its majesty." From 
the date of his appointment, the town became a valid incorporation, sub- 
ject to taxation and entitled to representation. Upon all public occasions 
he appeared before the court with his long pole surmounted with the 



l6 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1639 

British emblem of royalty ; and for a time after the Revolution his pole 
was crowned with the American eagle. For the better keeping in mind 
of God's providences, which had been " remarkable since their first under- 
takings," Governor Ludlow and others were appointed to take pains to 
collect the same from the towns in which they resided, and to bring them 
in to the next court in April, to be recorded, and kept among the archives 
at Hartford, which Ludlow faithfully carried out. 

Besides the General Court, the court of election, and the justice's 
court, there was a particular court, which consisted of the deputies or 
representatives of the General Court, to decide judicial and civil actions, 
debts and trespasses of over forty shillings.* Upon the adjournment of 
this session of the General Court, Ludlow returned to Uncoway and con- 
tinued his labor of laying out the town. Five wide streets were laid out 
near the old Meeting-house green, two of them running north-east and 
south-west, and three crossing these, running north-west and south-east to 
the Sound, f Four squares were laid out, each covering from twenty-five 
to thirty acres, which remain to-day almost precisely as Ludlow laid them 
out. These squares will be named after the persons who first settled 
upon them, viz. : the Ludlow, the Newton, the Frost, and the Burr 
squares. The first, or Ludlow square, which lies north of the present 
Congregational Church, has already been mentioned. 

The second, or Newton square, lies south-east of the Ludlow square 
on the opposite side of the street, which, in those days, was called " the 
street which runs through the centre of the town.'" A wide street was also 
opened in the rear of this square, running north-east from Concord street. 
On the south-west corner of this square, three acres were laid out for the 
use of the minister called " parsonage land." X The third, or Frost square, 
lies south-west of the Ludlow square, on the north-east corner of which, 
about one acre was laid out and formed a part of the Meeting-house 
green for the purpose of building a meeting-house, court-house, and 
school-house. The fourth, or Burr square, lies on the south-east side of 

* Col. Rec. Conn., i, 36-40. 

f The pioneers of New England had every reason to make good use of the compass ; and these 
streets and squares were no doubt laid out with the compass at hand, as well as the English 
measuring line of acres, rods, etc. The accurate lines of these streets and squares are north-east 
and southeast, north-west and south-west. The author has taken the liberty of naming the main 
avenues after Ludlow, Frost and Hill, and the other streets Dorchester and Windsor. Concord 
street was so named by the Concord settlers in 1644. 

X This land was purchased by the Rev. Noah Ilobart, and afterward occupied by the Rev. 
Andrew Elliot in 1779 ; a new house was erected after the town was burned in 1779, and recently 
occupied by Miss Eliza Hull. 



1639] DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT 1 7 

the street, opposite the Frost square. On the north-west corner of this, 
opposite the Meeting-house square, about three acres were laid out for a 
mihtary or pubhc park, which has ever since been called the " Meetin"-- 
house green." Between three and four acres more were laid out in the 
rear of this, that nearest the green for a home-lot and dwelling-house for 
the minister; and that on the north-east corner of the square for a burial 
place, which was called " Burial Hill." A pond of fresh, running water 
lay on the west side of the. Meeting-house green, which some years after 
the settlement, was called Edwards' pond.'^- Stately buttonball trees 
stood like aged sentinels upon the green. On the south-west side of the 
Burr square was a street or lane, leading to the Sound ; and on the south- 
east or rear, a lane was opened, which closed on the north-east with the 
fence of Burial-hill — which was for many years the first and only grave 
yard of the town, and was much larger than it is at the present day. 

Among those who joined Ludlow in September of this year, were 
William Frost, his son Daniel Frost, and his son-in-law John Gray, all of 
whom settled upon the Frost square.f William Frost took up his home- 
lot of two and one-half acres on the south-west side of the church and 
school land. About this time, or soon after, John Foster took up three 
acres in the rear of this lot. Next adjoining William Frost's lot on the 
west, Francis Purdie took up three and three-quarter acres, running 
through the square from the south-east to the north-west. Daniel Frost 
took up three and three-quarter acres west of this, which also extended 
through the whole width of the square. John Nichols, a brother of Isaac 
and Caleb Nichols, of Stratford, took up two and a half acres west of 
Daniel Frost. John Gray, who, before the month of May, 1639, had mar- 
ried Elizabeth a daughter of William Frost and widow of John Watson^, 
sold his house and home-lot in Lynn, Massachusetts, about the ist of 
August following, and before the 28th of September (perhaps accom- 
panied his father-in-law to Uncoway ), took up two and a half acres on the 
south-east corner of Frost square. Henry Whelpley soon after took up 
three acres next adjoining John Gray's lot, extending to the south- 
west corner of the square. At a later date, John Green took up three 
acres on the north-west side of this square, between Henry Whelpley's lot 
and Daniel Frost's. Richard Westcot took up two and a half acres on 
the south-east side of the square between John Gray and John Nichols. 

■" So named from John Edwards, who purchased the Rev. John Jones' house and home-lot of 
Thomas Bennet, December 23, 1686. A, Town Deeds, p. 51. 

f Leechford's Plain Dealing, p. loi. Record of Jacob Gray's land, Fairfield, A, Town Deeds. 
Will of William Frost, Conn. Col. Rec, Vol. i, p. 465. 
2 



1 8 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1640 

There appears to be every reason to believe that John and Thomas 
Barlow settled at Uncovvay about this time, or very soon after, which 
seems to be fully substantiated by a record of 1653, that the land of 
Thomas Morehouse, '■'■some times'' or for some time previous, had been 
owned by John Barlow; which must have been purchased by him at an 
early date, else some reference would have been made to its first owner, 
Daniel Frost had married Elizabeth, the daughter of John Barlow ; it is 
therefore a natural conclusion that these families, so closely allied by inter- 
marriage, should have journeyed to Uncoway together. Thomas Barlow, 
who was probably nearly related to John Barlow, took up five acres on 
the north-west corner of the Frost square, in the rear of the school and 
church land, next adjoining William Frost's and John Foster's land on the 
east. Abraham Frost also accompanied his father William Frost to Unco- 
way. The latter in his will mentions having purchased for this son the 
house and home lot of John Strickland of Wethersfield, who tarried but 
a short time at Fairfield, as soon after he is found at Long Island." 

These few families were the first settlers of Uncoway, and to them be- 
long the honor of breaking the soil of the fair fields and meadows of the 
town, and erecting the first dwellings and the first town and school-house. 
They were a small community, closely allied by ties of kinship and friend- 
shi^p. The hours were all too short for the labor necessary to accomplish 
building their dwellings and outhouses for their cattle, before the winter 
closed in upon them. The terror which some of them had endured from the 
Indians in the river settlements, and the miseries of a famine no longer har- 
assed them. Here the Indians were peaceably disposed, so that they slept 
in peace and rose in the morning refreshed for the labor of the day, while 
their hearts were made brave to endure the approaching winter months, 
with the wealth which the rich meadows, the fine forests, and the rivers 
and Sound promised them when spring opened. 

In 1640, early in January, Governor Ludlow again made his way 
through the wilderness to Hartford, in order to be present at the assem- 
bling of the General Court, held on the sixteenth. At the opening of the 
court the governor informed those present " that the occasion of calling 
them together at that time was the importunity of their neighbors at 
Weathersfield, who desired to have some answer concerning Uncoa : & 
thereupon he related that himself with Mr. Wells, according to the order 
of the Court, went thither & took a view of what had been done by Mr. 
Ludlow there; & upon due consideration of the same, they had thought 

* A, Fairfield Town Deeds, Thomas Barlow's land, p. 59 ; Savage's Gen. Die. ; Thomson's 
History Long Island. 



1640] DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT I9 

fit, upon Mr. Ludlow's " assenting to the terms propounded by them, to 
confirm the same. 

It appears that a division had occurred among tlie members of the 
Wethersfield church, which led to a number leaving that plantation and 
joining others. Those who first settled Stamford were from Wethers- 
field, and the Stricklands of Fairfield were also from that town. At a 
session of the General Court held on the 20th of February, " Mr Deputy, 
(which title was frequently given to the deputy-governor of the colony) 
was entreated to consider of some order concerning an inquiry into the 
death of any that happen either accidently or by violence, & for disposing 
the estate of Persons that die intestate ; & for y* power of the magis- 
trate in inflicting corporal punishment, & present it to the next Court: 
& also what course may be best taken with any that shall buy or pos- 
sess lands within the jurisdiction of Connecticut, that the public good 
might be promoted." * 

On the 26th of February Ludlow entered into a treaty with Mame- 
chimoh, the chief sachem of Norwake (Norwalk), of whom he purchased 
all the lands lying " between the Saugatuck & Norwalk rivers to the middle 
of s'd rivers, & from the sea a day's walk into the country." Thus an- 
other plantation was secured to the jurisdiction of Connecticut. Again, 
on the 5th of March, Ludlow was present as one of the judges of a par- 
ticular court held at Hartford. Ludlow also purchased a tract of land 
of the Indians at Lewisboro (lower Salem), Westchester county, New 
York, i6th of February, 1640. Captain Daniel Patrick purchased the 
central portion of that town on the 20th of April, 1640. A few planters 
appear to have settled there at this early date, but no formal settlement 
was made until 1651, at which date the western part of the town was 
purchased. Greenwich was also settled about the same time, but revolt- 
ing to the Dutch, it was not regained until the charter of Connecticut 
was granted in i6i2, when it became a part of the jurisdiction of Con- 
necticut. 

The spring opened with joyous promises to the planters. The winter 
had passed without disquietude from the Indians, or loss of numbers 
among themselves. The plow opened the rich meadows for the recep- 
tion of English grass seed, barley, oats, wheat and the Indian corn of the 
natives, as well as for vegetable seed, fruit stones and trees imported from 

* This land was individually purchased by Roger Ludlow " in consideration of eight fathom 
of wampum, sixe coates, term hatchets, tenn hoes, tcnn knives, tenn sissors, tenn Jewse harpes, 
tenn fathom tobackoe, three kittles of sixe hands about, & tenn looking-glasses." — Hall's Hist 
of Norwalk, p 30. 



20 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1640 

England. Ludlow was absent from the court of election held at Hart- 
ford on the 9th of April, at which time Edward Hopkins, Esq. was chosen 
governor and John Haynes deputy-governor. Ludlow was re-elected one 
of the magistrates, or assistant judges of the particular court. Governor 
Hopkins was instructed to give him the oath for the place of magistracy. 
This office, which he had held the year previous, gave him the power of 
enforcing the laws of the colony, administering justice and arbitrating all 
controversies in the town in which he resided. He was therefore the first 
judge of Fairfield, It was also ordered that " Mr Haynes, Mr Ludlow, 
and Mr Wells should settle the bounds between Pequannock and Unco- 
waye, on or before the 24. of June, according to their former commission ; 
& that they should tender the Oath of Fidelity to the inhabitants of 
the said towns, & make such free as they should approve." * 

There is no record of any settlement at Pequonnock at that time, but 
from the earliest extant boundaries of lands in 1650, occasional reference 
is made to home-lots having been previously owned by Nicholas Knell — 
afterwards of Stratford — John Evarts and others. There is ground to 
believe that before the emigration from Concord in 1644, a few persons 
had settled on the King's Highway, near the green adjoining the old Pe- 
quonnock burying ground. Ludlow being the chief magistrate, and hav- 
ing laid out the first four squares at Uncoway as the centre of the town, 
it was natural that the most of those who came early should settle near 
by for mutual protection in case of an attack from the natives. 

About this time the Indians began to be troublesome throughout the 
colony. The General Court therefore passed a law that if the watchmen 
of the towns should discover any Indians within the bounds of their plan- 
tations, or if found by the ward appointed for the day breaking open any 
house, or attempting the life of any person, it should be lawful for him to 
shoot them. Thomas Stanton, the interpreter between the Pequot In- 

*The Oath of A Freeman. [Col. Rec. of Conn.] 

" I, A. B being by the P''vidence of God an Inhabitant w"^in the Jurisdiction of Conecte- 
cott, doe acknowledge myself e to be subiecte to the Government thereof, and doe sweare by the 
great and fearefuU name of the ever-liveing God, to be true and faythfull vnto the same, and doe 
submitt boath my pi'son and estate thereunto, according to all the holsome lawes and orders that 
there are, or hereafter shall be there made, and established by lawful authority, and that I will 
neither plott nor practice any evell ag' the same, nor consent to any that shall so doe, but will 
tymely discover the same to lawfull authority there established : and that I will, as I am in duty 
bownd, mayntayne the honner of the same and of the lawfull magestratts thereof, p^moting the 
publike good of y', whilst I shall soe continue an Inhabitant there ; and whensoeu' I shall giue my 
voate or suffrage touching any matter wch conserns this Conion welth being cauled thereunto, will 
give*y* as in my conscience I shall judge, may conduce to the best good of the same, w*out respect 
of p''sons or favor of any man. Soe help me God in or Lord Jesus Christe." 



i640] DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT 21 

dians and the English troops at Pequot swamp in 1637, was appointed to 
give notice of tliis order to all the Indian chiefs. 

" No suitable place having been prepared for persons guilty of misde- 
meanor or crime, the court ordered that a house of correction should be 
built at Hartford." As Fairfield and Stratford were so far distant from 
Hartford as to make it inconvenient, in suits of appeal from the town 
court to the particular and General Court, Mr, William Hopkins, of 
Stratford, was appointed to join Ludlow in holding a particular court in 
each place. Ludlow was also appointed to collect tribute from the Indians. 
Every owner of appropriated grounds was required "to bound each 
particular parcell with sufficient mere-stones to preserve and keep them." 

From the early records of Fairfield it is shown that the home-lots on 
the east side of Meeting-house green, for some years had no other 
separation than stones set in the ground at convenient distances. For 
want of any town records of those early days, imagination can only sup- 
ply the history of the first year of the planters of Uncoway. Without 
doubt each man accomplished a daily round of hard manual labor. With 
the help of their own servants and the Indians, considerable progress must 
have been made in raising a supply of staple products for the necessities 
of the winter; and their horses, cattle and sheep were made healthy with 
sweet English grass, oats and hay. Probably the first town and school- 
house was built this year, which also served as a place of worship until 
the planters were able to erect a meeting-house. It stood a little north- 
west of the present Congregational church, facing towards the north-east. 
It evidently contained two or more rooms, and was used as a town and 
school-house until 1693. when it was given by the town to the Rev. Joseph 
Webb for a parsonage.* 

Among those who joined the plantation during the year, was Henry 
Gray of Boston, the brother of John Gray, who soon after May, 1639, 
married Lydia, another daughter of William Frost. He appears to have 
lived with his father-in-law, who in his will, left him and his son, Jacob 
Gray, the Frost homestead. For want of data, it is not possible to give 
the precise time when all the early settlers came to Fairfield and Pequon- 
nock, before or after 1644. In several instances, besides those already 
mentioned, this can be done; but the record of lands in 1650 supplies 
most, if not all the names of those who settled in the town previous to 
that date, and will be given hereafter. 

* See gift of town or school-house to Rev. Mr. Webb, Letter B. Town V^otes, p. 107. This 
property afterwards came into the possession of Eunice Dennie, wife of Thacldeus Burr, who deeded 
it to the Congregational parish, by which it was sold to private individuals. 



22 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1641 

A great scarcity of money among the planters of Connecticut became 
a serious matter of legislative action at the assembling of the General 
Court, held at Hartford on the 7th of February. All available coins of the 
different nationalities which had been brought to America, had been used. 
Indian wampum, wampumpeag, or peag, which was made of the end of a 
periwinkle shell and the back part of a clam shell, was at first received in 
trafficking with the Indians, and for a time was used as money even among 
the planters. The beads were small and of white, black and purple, about 
a quarter of an inch in length, and in diameter less than a pipe-stem, 
drilled lengthwise, and strung upon a thread. The white beads were rated 
at half the value of the black or violet. At one time a fathom, or string 
of wampum consisted of 360 beads, and was valued at 60 pence, 6 white 
beads one penny, 360 black beads 120 pence, and three black beads one 
penny. Their value, however, varied from time to time. 

The General Court, taking into consideration the great expense to 
which the colonists had been subjected in sending abroad for necessary 
articles of food and clothing, " & not knowing how the commonwealth 
could be long supported unless some staple commodities should be raised 
in order to defray their debts," passed the following acts: 

That all possible encouragement might be given for the full employ- 
ment of men and cattle for the improvement of land, so that English 
grain could be raised by the planters themselves, by all disposed to im- 
prove their estates in husbandry, the court granted " one hundred acres of 
plowing ground & twenty acres of meadow, provided twenty acres were 
improved the first, & eighty the second year," which resolution was to 
take effect immediately. A committee was appointed to set forth the 
form and order, as to the manner in which each man's proportion should 
be laid out, with a competent quantity of upland ; to the owner of each 
team a competent lot for a workman " to manage the business & carry 
on the work ; " and to admit inhabitants to new plantations, and set out 
their bounds. All persons who gave in their names to the committee for 
this undertaking, were to have their divisions set out to them in regular 
order, next after the committee had made choice for themselves. If any 
person undertaking a hundred acres or less, should neglect or fail to be 
able to carry out the terms specified, the court reserved the power to dis- 
possess him of the grant, paying him a reasonable satisfaction for what 
improvements he had made. The court also reserved the power to refuse 
such applicants as they deemed unfit for the undertaking. All stock 
removed from one place to another w^as taxed in the place from whence 
it came, and the tax paid towards making roads, or other public im- 



i64i] DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT 23 

provements, until the new plantation should be capable of maintaining 
itself. 

Governor Hopkins, having fitted out a vessel to be sent for a cargo of 
cotton to the Bermuda Islands, the General Court ordered that each plan- 
tation should receive its proportion according to its means of payment, to 
be made in English corn or pipe-staves, in which Fairfield shared. For 
preserving timber for pipe-staves, a law was passed that no timber should 
be felled within the bounds of the plantations, nor any pipe-staves sold 
out of the plantations, without the consent of the court, nor transported 
into foreign ports, until they were inspected and approved by a committee 
appointed by the court as to due proportion and size. A committee was 
also appointed to consider the best way to improve land, and to provide 
suitable fencing for the protection of growing crops ; and also to keep 
herds of cattle in the most economical manner. The skins and felts of 
cows and goats were ordered to be carefully preserved, and dressed for 
home use and for the market, under a penalty such as the court should 
approve. " That they might in time have a supply of linen among them- 
selves," it was made a law, that every particular family in the colony 
should procure and plant, within a year, at least, one spoonful of English 
hemp-seed, in some fruitful soil, at least a foot distant betwixt every seed ; 
the seed of the same to be carefully husbanded for another year ; and 
that every famil)' should raise at least half a pound of flax or hemp. It 
was also ordered that every family possessing a team, even if not more 
than three draft cattle, should sow the second year, at least one rood of 
hemp or flax ; and every person who kept cattle, whether cows, heifers or 
steers, should sow ten perches, and tend and husband the same, or undergo 
the censure of the court. All country taxes were ordered to be paid in 
merchantable Indian corn, at three shillings a bushel. 

The debts of the plantations, either by labor of man, or cattle, or con- 
tract for commodities, were ordered to be paid in Indian corn at three 
shillings and four pence a bushel. Wampum, which since 1638 had been 
rated at six a penny was now raised, " to four a penny, & two-pence to 
be paid in the shilling." These laws, which were established for the 
growth and prosperity of the plantations of the colony, were the small 
beginnings of the fortunes of the early settlers of Connecticut. They had 
spent what money they brought with them ; and with manly energy 
they went about making new fortunes in a New World, by the literal 
sweat of their brows. It was made a crime, punishable by law, to waste 
even the smallest and most insignificant article which might be utilized 
by each individual family; thus establishing the prosperity of the united 



24 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1641 

commonwealth. This healthful care in the day of small things was the 
beginning of the success of the Connecticut planters, which their descend- 
ants have inherited. It always provided them with coffers well filled 
for every emergency, both at home and abroad. It made the thrifty 
New Englander respected in all lands ; and has won for New England 
the reputation of being the back-bone and sinew of the American 
people. 

We also gather from the first of these resolutions, the manner in which 
landed estates were acquired by the planters, and the time when the 
first general laying out of the farming lands at Fairfield began. Its fair 
fields and rich meadows, under the passage of this law, must have attracted 
many to join the settlement. Another committee was this year appointed 
to visit Pequonnock " to settle the bounds between them & the Planta- 
tions on both sides of them, & to hear & determine the difference be- 
tween the inhabitants of Stratford among themselves." 

It appears that Stratford claimed a certain number of acres on the 
west side of the Pequonnock river, so that between that plantation and 
Fairfield, the Pequonnock settlement was kept in a state of unrest sev- 
eral years. Ludlow was also required to exact of the Fairfield Indians 
the tribute yet unpaid and due, by articles formerly agreed upon. At 
the same time the deputies from the several towns were freed from 
watching, warding and training, until after the General Court terms 
ended. 

That economy might be still better practiced, the General Court saw 
fit to legislate at this time on the subject of dress. The frequent arrival 
of vessels from England laden with such necessaries as the colonists re- 
quired, also brought over all kinds of fabrics for wearing apparel. The 
profit derived by the planters from exporting building materials, Indian 
corn, furs, medicinal plants, and dyeing woods, furnished them not only 
with means of exchange for their necessities, but also afforded them an op- 
portunity to indulge in pretty costumes. This evil the forefathers of New 
England endeavored to curtail as best they could from time to time. The 
magistrates of Connecticut found no little trouble in subduing the natural 
inclination of both men and women in their love of dress, which appears 
to have been regarded " as a sore and besetting sin ; " therefore, at the 
assembling of the General Court at Hartford, on the 9th of April, the 
following act was passed : " Notwithstanding the late order, concerning 
the restraint of excess in apparel, yet divers persons of several ranks are 
observed to exceed therein : It is therefore ordered that the Constables of 
every town within these liberties, shall observe & take notice of any 



i64i] DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT 2$ 

particular person or persons within their several limits, & all such as 
they judge to exceed their condition & rank therein, they shall present 
& warn to appear at the Particular Court ; as also the said Constables 
are to present to the s'd Court, all such persons who sell their commod- 
ities at excessive rates." * 

" Our meaner sort that metamorphos'd are, 

With women's hair, in gold & garments gay, 
Whose wages hirge our Commonwealth's work mar. 

Their pride they shall with moderation lay : 
Cast off their cloathes, that men may know their rank. 
And women that with outward deckings frank." 

— Johnson's Wonder Working Providence. 

At the same time, in order to increase the interest of home-made linen 
in every family, all persons possessing more than one spoonful of hemp 
seed, were required to sell it to such of their neighbors as were not pro- 
vided with the seed, or else plant as many spoonfuls themselves as they 
had applicants for. Again on the 7th of June, the officers of the General 
Court met at Hartford, to take into consideration an excess in wages 
among all sorts of artificers and w^orkmen. " It was hoped that men would 
be a law unto themselves ; " but, finding to the contrary, the following act 
was passed : " That able carpenters, plowrights, wheel-rights, masons, 
joiners, smiths & coopers, shall not receive above twenty pence a day for 
a days work, from the 10. of March, to the 11. of October; nor above 
18. pence a day for the other part of the year. They were to work" 
eleven hours in the summer time, besides that spent in eating or sleeping, 
and ten hours in the winter. Mowers, in time of mowing, were not to 
receive " above twenty pence for a day's work." Artificers or handicraft 
men and chief laborers, were restricted to eighteen pence for the first half 
year as above, and not more than fourteen pence a day for the other part 
of the year. " Sawyers for slit-work," or three-inch plank, were not to 
exceed above three shillings six pence a day for boards by the hundred : 
also that all boards should not be sold for more than five shillings six 
pence a hundred. 

The hire of " four of the best sort of oxen or horses with the tacklin," 
was not to exceed four shillings ten pence a day from the i ith of March, to 
the nth of October, for eight hours' labor, except they were employed in 
breaking up upland ground, for which work four shillings ten pence was 
allowed, even if they worked but six hours. For the same teams they 

*CoI. Rec. Conn., i, 6. 



26 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1641 

allowed four shillings a day from the i ith of October, to the nth of March, 
at six hours' labor. If any person either directly, or indirectly gave or 
took larger wages than this law allowed, they were to abide the censure of 
the court. 

In order to promote the interests of exporting timber, for discharging 
debts or necessary" provisions in exchange for cotton, sugar, molasses, 
spices and rum from the South and the Bermudas, on the loth of September 
the General Court revoked the former order in regard to pipe-staves, and 
passed the following resolution, viz. : "that the size of pipe-staves should 
be four feet, four inches in length, half an inch at least in thickness, 
beside the sap." If under four inches in breadth, they were to pass for half 
staves, and none were to be accepted under three inches in breadth. An 
order was given that every town should appoint one experienced man who 
should be sworn to the service to inspect the staves, and that each parcel 
approved by him should be sealed. All such parcels approved and sealed, 
were made merchantable at five pounds per thousand. With vast acres of 
fine timber, and with one of the finest harbors on the coast, the planters of 
Fairfield, found an abundant source of wealth at hand. Black Rock became, 
and was for many years called, the sea-port harbor of Fairfield. The family 
of Grays appear to have been London merchants, and engaged in the New 
England shipping business with the Ludlow family. There is every reason 
therefore to believe that vessels were at an early date laden from Black 
Rock for England, Virginia and the West Indies. Among the first sea 
captains were Thomas Newton and John Cable. 

Again another committee from Milford was appointed to settle the 
bounds between Pequonnock and Uncoway. In order to promote truth- 
fulness, the want of which appears to have given some trouble in the colony, 
the court passed the following law : " For preventing the fowl and gross 
sin of lying," when any person or persons were found guilty of that vice, 
the particular court was given power " to censure such parties, either by 
fine or bodily correction, according to their judgment and the nature of 
the fault." 

About this time the Dutch gave the Connecticut settlers no little 
trouble in regard to their claims in the colony, and in selling arms and 
ammunition to the Indians. Mr. Edward Hopkins, who was about to 
make a voyage to England, was appointed by the General Court " to 
arbitrate or issue the difference between the Dutch & Connecticut, that 
the matter might be settled." The great fear entertained throughout 
New England at this time was, that the Indians would form a combination 
in a general war against the planters. 



1642] DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT 2/ 

A marked change was made at the General Court of election held at 
Hartford on the second Thursday in April. George Wyllis, Esq., was 
elected governor, and Roger Ludlow deputy-governor. Henry Gray was 
made a deputy from Fairfield. Previous to this time six magistrates had 
been annually chosen ; but now it was decided that the number should be 
increased to eight, probably on account this year of Stamford sending two 
representatives to the Connecticut Court. It was also agreed for the time 
being, that the particular court should be held " about once in a quarter 
of a year." 

An order was issued that no person within the jurisdiction of Con- 
necticut should trade with the Indians on Long Island until further orders. 
Also, that no man within the colony should refuse merchantable Indian 
corn at 2s. 6d. a bushel for any contract made for the labor of man, cattle, 
or commodities, sold after the publishing of this order. The Indians be- 
coming still more troublesome, great fears were entertained for the safety 
of the settlements, it having been discovered that Miantonimo, chief 
sachem of the Narragansetts, had entered into a combination with So- 
heage or Sequin, the sachem of Matabeseck (Middletown), and Sassawin 
or Sequassen the sachem of Sicaogg (Hartford), for the extermination of 
the English throughout New England. Sequin had all along given the 
river settlements trouble ; and various efforts had been made by the Gen- 
eral Court to restrain his insolent conduct and acts of cruelty. 

This plot was revealed to Ludlow by a Fairfield sachem. " About the 
20th of August, the last day of the week, towards evening, there came 
the said Indian that lives near Mr. Ludlow's, in the field where he was 
with his hay makers, & desired that he might with Adam, his Indian* 
have some private talk. Mr. Ludlow with Adam accompanied him under 
a bush out of sight — he durst not go to Ludlow's house for fear of being 
suspected. Upon a promise of his name not being revealed, he pro- 
ceeded to relate that Miantonimo had been to Long Island, & had in- 
duced all the sachems of the Island to engage in a conspiracy against the 
English, giving each of them 25 fathom of wampum, 20 of white & 
five of black. All the sachems on the Island & upon the main from the 
Dutch to the Bay, & all the Indians to the Eastward had also pledged 
their assistance. Many opposed the plot because the English were too 
strong for them, but Miantonimo said it could be done only by their united 
effort. In order to gain or compass Uncas, the Mohawks were entreated 
to join them, which was effected. The reason assigned for this was that 

* Adam was an Indian whom tlie General Court of Massachusetts granted to Governor Ludlow 
in 1634, " to entertain as a household servant." — Mass. Col. Rec., i, 127. 



28 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1642 

the Narragansetts feared they would be punished for John Oldham's 
death ; " & that the English got possession of the best places in the 
country & drove the Indians away." 

The plot was to be executed the next winter; every Indian plantation 
was to attack the English adjoining, and if more English than Indians, 
they were to be assisted by their neighbors ; specially an attack was to be 
made on the principal magistrates and their families, which would easily 
dishearten the others. As soon as the Sabbath was over, Ludlow rode to 
New Haven and found that an Indian from Long Island had discovered 
the same to Governor Eaton, and that " upon Miantonimo's sending the 
head & hands of an Englishman to Long Island, which were to be sent 
among all the Indians on the island, they were to do the same, & send a 
head & hands to Miantonimo, meaning to knit them together." The 
next day Governor Ludlow went to Hartford, where an Indian of note, 
who it was feared would die of wounds, sent for Thomas Stanton and dis- 
closed the same facts.f 

At this critical moment a special General Court assembled at Hartford, 
and agreed that a letter should be sent forthwith to the Bay^ notifying them 
of the impending danger. The clerks of the bands in each town were 
ordered to be placed under oath by the governor, or some magistrate to 
examine every man's arms to ascertain the quantity of their powder and 
bullets, to take notice of all such as absented themselves at times of 
training, and to make a report of the same to the next court. The in- 
habitants of the towns were not allowed to permit the Indians to enter 
their houses ; and the magistrates were prohibited from admitting more 
than one sachem, provided he came only with two men. A guard of forty 
men " complete in their arms " was stationed around the meeting-houses 
every Sabbath and lecture day. Each member of the court agreed to take 
an oath to keep secret their determination to defeat the plot of the Indians. 
The General Court assembled again on the 8th of September, and passed 
the following resolution : 

" Forasmuch as the Indians have grown Insolent & combyne themselves together, 
being suspected to prepare for war. It is ordered that no Smith within these liberties 
shall trade any instrument, or matter made of iron or Steele with them, nor deliver any 
that are already made, without lycense from two Magistrates, nor buy any of their venison 
without further liberty be granted." 

It was ordered, that every town should be provided within fourteen 
days " with twenty half pikes of ten foot in length, at least in the wood : " 

* John Oldham was murdered by the Indians at Block Island in 1635. — Trumbull's Hist. 
Conn., I, 62. t Mass. Hist. Coll., v. 3, s. 3, 161. 



1642] DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT 20 

Also, that each plantation should have two ward-men to give notice of 
sudden danger ; to execute the order about admitting Indians into the 
plantations ; and that a competent number of men should be daily kept 
on guard. New Haven also became agitated by the hostile attitude of 
Governor Keift, who had dispatched an armed force, to break up the 
settlements in Delaware. Their trading houses were burned and several 
English planters imprisoned. The damage done amounted to about a 
thousand pounds.* One of the principal gentlemen of New Haven, by 
the name of Lamberton, was made an object of special indignities, and 
even an attempt made upon his life. Both Connecticut and New Haven 
made fruitless efforts to obtain redress. In the mean time they resolved 
to prepare for what seemed to be an inevitable war. On the 4th of October 
the General Court of Connecticut ordered that " there shall be 90 
coats provided within these plantations within ten days, basted with cot- 
ton wool, & made defensive against Indian arrows." 

Fairfield, while but a small plantation, and not yet subject to taxation 
or full representation according to the laws of the colony, was not called 
upon to furnish men. The planters were simply left to take care of them- 
selves as best they could. The consternation among them, however, upon 
the discovery of the Indian plot to destroy the English, must have been 
very great. The friendly sachem who had disclosed the conspiracy to 
Ludlow, no doubt held in check the other sachems and their men. An 
account of the condition of affairs at this time at Fairfield is given in 
William Wheeler's Journal, in the following words : 

"The Indians about Fairfield were fond of war, and often soliciting- the Old Indian 
chief, for leave to destroy the English. Once they obtained it on condition of pulling^ up 
a large neighboring white oak tree. Well, to work they went, and stript off its branches, 
t)ut still the trunk baffled their utmost endeavors. 

'Thus,' says the Old Sachem, 'will be the end of your war. You may kill some of 
their pappooses, but the old plaguey stump tother side the great waters will remain and 
send out more branches.' " 

With that marvelous energy which Ludlow possessed, and which 
enabled him to be prepared for every emergency, he used all the pacific 
measures necessary to keep peace with the Indians in Fairfield and its 
vicinity, which he happily effected. The increasing population of the 
plantations, and the beginnings of new settlements, brought the necessity 
of an effort to secure further progress in law and jurisprudence. A body 

* TnimbuU's Hist. Conn., i, 119. Smith's History of New York, p. 4. Mrs. Martha J. Lamb's 
Histor)' of New York City, i, 97, 116. Bryant's History of the United States, i. Chapter, 17. Rec. 
United Colonies. 



30 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1642 

of capital laws which had been prepared were submitted to the General 
Court in December. They were founded upon the Scriptures, and were 
twelve in number. Although these laws were very severe, they were in 
reality much more lenient than the laws of the Massachusetts colony ; and 
contrast in a remarkable manner with the capital laws of England, where 
so many offenses were punished with death.* 

Although a cloud of threatened annihilation at the hand of the Indians 
hung over all the New England settlements, prosperity had crowned the 
unwearying toil of the planters with an abundant harvest. Each settle- 
ment presented an orderly, thrifty aspect, and " the wilderness now blos- 
somed as the rose." The true condition of the settlements at this time 
is given by one of the most graphic writers of those days. In enumerat- 
ing the blessings which had followed the labors of the planters, he says : 
" First, to begin with the encrease of food, you have heard in what extream 
penury these people were in at first, planting for want of food, gold, silver, 
payments or whatsoever was precious in their eyes they parted with, 
(when ships came in) for this their beast that died, some would stick 
before they were cold, and sell their poor pined flesh for food at 6 d. 
per pound, Indian Beans at 16. s. per bushel ; when Ships came in, it 
grieved some Masters to see the urging of them by people of good rank 
and quality to sell bread unto them. But now take notice how the right 
hand of the Most High hath altered all, and men of the meaner rank are 
urging them to buy bread of them ; and now good white and wheaten 
bread is no dainty, but even ordinary man hath his choice, if gay cloathing, 
and a Hquerish tootli after sack, sugar and plums lick not away his bread 
too fast, all which are but ordinary among those that were not able to 
bring their owne persons over at their first coming ; there are not many 
Towns in the Country, but the poorest person in them hath a house and 
land of his own, and bread of his own growing, if not some cattel : beside, 
flesh is now no rare food, beef, pork, and mutton being frequent in many 
houses, so that this poor Wilderness hath not only equalized E^igland in 
food, but goes beyond it in some places for the great plenty of wine and 
sugar, which is ordinarily spent ; apples, pears, and quince tarts instead of 
their former Pumpkin Pie. Poultry they have plenty, and great rarity ; 
and in their feasts have not forgotten the English fashion of stirring up 
their appetites with variety of cooking their food ; and notwithstanding 
all this great and almost miraculous work of the Lord, in providing for 

* No less than thirty-one kinds of crime were punished with death in England at the end of 
Queen Elizabeth's reign, which afterwards were more cruel and increased in numbers. — Palfrey 
Hist., New England, 11, 27. 



1642] DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT 3! 

his people in this barren desart, yet are there here (as in other places) some 
that use these good creatures of God to excess, and others to hoard up in 
a wretched and miserable manner, pinch themselves and their children 
with food, and will not taste of the good creatures God hath given for that 
end, but cut Church and Commonwealth as short also : Let no such think 
to escape the Lord's hand with as little a stroke as the like do in other 
places. 

Secondly, For rayment, our cloth had not been cut short, as but of 
late years the traders that way have encrcascd to such a number, that their 
shops have continued full all the year long, all one England ; besides the 
Lord hath been pleased to encrease sheep extraordinarily of late, hemp 
and flax here is great plenty ; hides here arc more for the number of per- 
sons than in England ; and for cloth, here is and would be materials 
enough to make it; but the Farmers deem it better for their profit to 
put away their cattel and corn for cloathing, than to set upon making 
of cloth ; if the Merchant's trade be not kept on foot, they fear greatly 
their corne and cattel will lye in their hands: assuredly the plenty of 
cloathing hath caused much excess of late in those persons, who have 
clambered with excess in wages for their work, but seeing it will be the 
theam of our next discourse, after the birds are settled, it may be here 
omitted. 

Further, the Lord hath been pleased to turn all the wigwams, huts, and 
hovels the English dwelt in at their first coming, into orderly, fair, and 
well-built houses, well furnished many of them, together with Orchards 
filled with goodly fruit trees, and gardens with variety of flowers: There 
are supposed to be in the MassacJmsets Government at this day, neer a 
thousand acres of land planted for Orchards and Gardens, besides their 
fields are filled with garden fruit, there being, as is supposed in this Colony 
about fifteen thousand acres in tillage, and of cattle about twelve thou- 
sand neat, and about three thousand sheep: Thus hath the Lord incouraged 
his people with the encrease of the general, although many particulars are 
outed, hundreds of pounds, and some thousands, yet are there many hun- 
dreds of labouring men, who had not enough to bring them over, yet now 
v/orth scores, and some hundreds of pounds. 

This spring Cowes and Cattle of that kind (having continued at an ex- 
cessive price so long as any came over with estates to purchase them), fell 
of a suddain in one week from ;^22 the Cow, to 6, 7, or ;^8 the Cow at most, 
insomuch that it made all men admire how it came to pass, it being the 
common practise of those that had any store of Cattel, to sell every year 
a Cow or two, which cloath'd their backs, fil'd their bellies with more 



32 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1643 

varieties than the Country of itself afforded, and put gold and silver in 
their purses beside."* 

Fairfield and the other Connecticut settlements, in a measure enjoyed 
the prosperity of the older towns, from which the planters purchased cattle, 
etc., at the low rates above mentioned. In this way, however, considerable 
wealth passed out of the colony. 

In order to promote the shipping interests of Connecticut, the General 
Court passed a law, that all persons who had hemp seed should either sow 
it themselves, or sell it to others, for furnishing " cordage towards rigging 
of ships." Summer wheat in December was rated at 4-$". 4^. a bushel ; 
rye at 3^. 6d. ; peas, t,s. 6d.; Indian corn 2s. Sd. The constables of the 
towns were ordered to receive produce only at these rates, or in wampum 
" at 6 a-penny." Pipe-staves were ordered to be 4 feet 6 inches in length, 
and in breadth and thickness the same as before. Good reals of 8//8, and 
Rix dollars, were to be received and passed at five shillings apiece.f 

A still more stringent law was enacted against selling arms or repairing 
them for the Indians. A fine of ten pounds was levied upon any one 
disposed to evade this law without a license from the particular court, or 
from two magistrates for every gun sold ; five pounds for every pound of 
powder ; forty shillings for every pound of bullets or lead. Where a fine 
could not be obtained, corporal punishment was ordered to be adminis- 
tered, at the discretion of the court. 

At the court of election held April 13, Ludlow was elected an assist- 
ant and Henry Gray a deputy for Fairfield. A general confederation of 
the colonies for mutual protection had been agitated for some time, and 
now became a question of great moment throughout New England. In 
the month of March, John Haynes and William Hopkins were appointed 
to go to Massachusetts to effect this end, with instructions "to reserve the 
privileges of our fundamental laws." Governor Fenwick, who was in charge 
of the fort and plantation at Saybrook and vicinity, was invited to join 
the confederation, with the promise that none of his privileges should be 
infringed upon. That justice might be fairly meted out in cases of jurispru- 
dence, the subject of juries also became one of consideration. Juries appear 
to have existed from about 1640, as attendants upon the particular courts. 

In the month of May the effort to bring about a general confederation 
of the colonies was most timely and happily effected. As early as 1638 
articles of confederation for mutual protection, offense and defense, advice 

* Johnson's Wonder Working Providence. Mass. Hist. Coll., Vol. 7, S. 2, 35-38. 
f Real — a small Spanish coin valued at about 2| pence sterling. A Rix dollar — a German, 
Holland, Denmark, and Sweeden coin, valued from 60 cents to $1.08, in the different countries. 



i643] ' DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT 33 

and assistance upon all necessary occasions were drawn. Mr. Fenwick, 
then govx^rnor at the fort at Saybrook, upon certain terms agreed to con- 
federate with the other colonies to bring about the union. In 1639 a 
month had been spent by Governor Haynes and Mr. Hooker in Massa- 
chusetts for this purpose. The affairs in England and those of New Eng- 
land made it a matter of necessity that His Majesty's colonies in America 
should unite for mutual protection and defense. Contrary to the first in- 
tentions of the pioneers of New England, the settlements had been ex- 
tended along the rivers and upon the sea coast, so that some of them were 
particularly exposed and defenseless against attacks from the Indians or 
foreign foes. 

The difBculty which had previously prevented this union arose from 
an inability to agree upon equal terms with Massachusetts, which was the 
strongest and most arbitrary of the colonies. A variance existed between 
that colony and Connecticut, on account of the former claiming part of 
the Pequot country by right of assistance and conquest. They also had 
trouble in regard to their boundaries, both colonies claiming Springfield 
and Westfield. Notwithstanding their disagreements, in the month of 
May, commissioners were sent from Connecticut and New Haven to Bos- 
ton during the session of the General Court. A spirit of harmony and 
mutual conciliation appears to have controlled their meeting; and on the 
19th of May articles of agreement were signed by the colonies of Massa- 
chusetts, Connecticut and New Haven. They " entered into a firm and 
perpetual league of friendship and amity, of offence and defence, mutual 
aid and succour upon all just occasions, both for preserving and propagat- 
ing the truth and liberty of the gospel, and for their own mutual safety 
and welfare," under the name of The United Colonies of New England. 
Commissioners were present from Plymouth, but they did not sign the 
articles of agreement, as they had not been authorized to do so ; but at 
the meeting of the commissioners in September, they came vested with 
plenary power and added their signatures. 

The articles agreed upon reserved to each colony an entire and distinct 
jurisdiction, and no two of them could be united into one, nor any other 
colony received into the confederacy without the consent of the whole. 
Two commissioners, who were required to be cliurch members, were to be 
chosen annually from each of the colonies, to meet on the first Monday in 
September, first at Boston and afterwards at New Haven, Hartford or 
Plymouth. A president was to be chosen from among themselves, and 
they were vested with plenary power to declare war and peace, and to 
make laws and rules of a civil nature. All decisions made by the com- 
3 



34 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD * [1643 

missioners were binding upon the colonies ; except in case of disagree- 
ment or a majority under six, when the affair was to be referred to the 
General Court of each colony ; and could not be settled until the courts 
arrived at a unanimous agreement. Any breach of this compact on the 
part of one of the colonies to the injury of another, was to be settled by 
the other three colonies. Provision was made in regard to Indian fugi- 
tives from justice, and servants escaping from their masters. The expense 
of war was to be shared by each of the colonies in proportion to its ratable 
list of male inhabitants from sixteen to sixty years of age. No one 
colony could engage in a war without the consent of the others. If any 
of the colonies were invaded, their magistrates were to notify the other 
colonies, which were to send immediate relief — Massachusetts a hundred 
and each of the others fifty-five men, and more if necessary, according to 
the determination of the commissioners. Should an emergency occur, or 
sudden danger arise, by which all the commissioners should not have time 
to meet, four might determine upon a war. 

This union was one of great importance to the New England colonies. 
It made them formidable at home and abroad. The Indians and Dutch 
were held in check. It also called forth the respect of their French neigh- 
bors. Through the vicissitudes of forty years, it proved of the greatest 
advantage to all the colonies, and remained in force until King James II. 
abrogated their charters." The first notice of the existence of a grand 
jury is given at an extra session of the General Court held July 5, when it 
was ordered that a grand jury of twelve men should attend the particular 
court annually in May and September, and as often as the governor and 
court should have occasion to call them together. At all times they were 
to be warned to give their attendance. 

To prevent ill-advised marriages, the following law was passed: 

" Whereas, the prosoerity & well being of Comon weles doth much depend vppon 
the well gouerment & ordering of particular Familyes, w<=b in an ordinary way cannot be 
expected where the rules of God are neglected in laying the foundation of a family state ; 
For the preuention therefore of such evells & inconueniences, wc"* by experience are found 
not only to be creeping in, but practised by some in that kynd, It is Ordered, that no 
prson whatsoeuer, male or female, not being at his or her owne dispose, or that remayn- 
eth under the gouerment of parents, masters or gardians or such like, shall ether make, 
or giue entertaynement to any motion or sute in way of mariedge, wti^out the knowledge 
& consent of those they stand in such relation to, vnder the seuere censure of the Courte, 
in case of delinquency not attending this order ; nor shall any third prson or prsons inter- 
medle in making any motion to any such, w''>out the knowledge &. consent of those 
vnder whose gouerment they are, vnder the same penalty." f 

* Trumbull's Hist. Conn , i., 124-128. f Col. Rec. Conn., i., 92. 



1643J DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT 35 

The alarm of a general insurrection among the Indians increased. 
Miantonimo arrogantly proclaimed himself to be the chief sachem of all 
the New England tribes. Notwithstanding his treaty with the English at 
Hartford in 1638, at which time the conquered Pequots were divided 
between him and Uncas, he exhibited a spirit of great hostility towards 
Uncas, upon whom he visited his old hatred of the Pequots. His rancor- 
ous jealousy led him to plot against him, and to instigate others to acts of 
treachery 3.nd murder. At the same time he continued by art and intrigue 
to excite the Indians throughout New England to exterminate the whites. 
Many of the Indians had purchased guns and ammunition of the Dutch 
and French. They were exceedingly warlike in their demeanor, and great 
fears existed of a speedy attack upon all the white settlements. 

In July the General Court ordered that every plantation should be fully 
prepared for any emergency, and fines levied if the previous orders in 
this respect were not fully carried out. Letters were sent to the General 
Court of Massachusetts, requesting that one hundred men should be sent 
to assist the garrison at the fort at Saybrook. This demand was refused 
for the time being, on the ground of inexpediency. In the mean time the 
Dutch Governor had sent a letter of congratulation to Governor Winthrop 
on the union of the colonies. He complained of most grievous misrep- 
resentations on the part of Connecticut and New Haven to their agents in 
Europe. He requested to learn the spirit of the colonies towards hin), 
" that he might know who were his friends or his foes." Governor Win- 
throp replied to this letter, expressing his deep regret that any difference 
existed between the English and the Dutch ; and suggested that their 
trouble should be settled either in England, Holland or America; that 
while the articles of confederation bound the colonies in New England 
in a bond of mutual protection, he hoped the old friendship between them 
and the Dutch would remain uninterrupted. 

About this time an attempt was made by Miantonimo to murder Uncas. 
A report soon spread that the murder had been committed; and Mianto- 
nimo in order to hide his own treachery, killed the Indian whom he had 
employed to commit the act. Sequin also joined in the plot against Uncas 
and the white planters. No sooner had this intelligence reached the set- 
tlements, than it was discovered that Miantonimo was marching upon the 
Mohegans with an army of nine hundred men. Uncas having been made 
aware of his approach, resolved that the Narragansetts should not enter 
his town. He hastily called together between four and five hundred of 
his men and went out to meet the enemy. A battle took place about four 
miles from the town in which he lived. The Narragansetts were put to 



36 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1643 

flight ; Miantonimo was taken prisoner, and carried in triumph to Hart- 
ford. He begged that he might be left to the mercy of the English, but 
at the request of Uncas, it was decided that he should be kept as his 
prisoner. 

At the meeting of the commissioners of the united colonies at Bos- 
ton in September the conspiracy of Miantonimo against Uncas and the 
whites, and the murders he had committed, were proved. Lest the Narra- 
gansetts and the tribes tributary to them, should seek to avenge the death 
of their chief, it was decided to give him up to the mercy of Uncas, with 
the request that no torture or cruelty should be used, " but all moderation 
exercised in the manner of his execution." It was also decided that the 
colonies should assist in protecting Uncas against the Narragansetts, if 
they attempted to revenge upon him the death of Miantonimo, and " that 
Hartford furnish Uncas with a competent strength of English to defend 
him against any present fury or assault of the Narragansetts or any oth- 
ers." The outrages of the Dutch upon the New Haven settlements at 
Delaware, and those upon the Connecticut river towns and on Long Island 
were laid before the commissioners by Governor Hopkins and Mr. Fen- 
wick. It was decided that, as Governor Winthrop had previously in part 
answered the Dutch governor's letter, he should continue a further reply, 
by stating the injuries done by the Dutch to the English planters, and de- 
mand satisfaction ; and that while the united colonies would not wrong 
others, they should defend each other in a just cause. 

The death of Miantonimo having been left to Uncas, he was immedi- 
ately notified of the decision. With some of his most trusty men to assist 
him, he took charge of his prisoner ; and with two Englishmen, appointed 
to see that no tortures were inflicted, they all marched to the spot where 
he had been taken. " At the instant they arrived on the ground, one of 
Uncas' men, who had marched behind Miantonimo, split his head with a 

hatchet, killing him at one stroke Uncas cut out a large piece of his 

flesh & ate it in savage triumph. He said, *it was the sweetest meat he 
ever ate ; it made his heart strong.'" He ordered that he should be buried 
where he fell, and caused a heap of stones to be erected over his grave. 
The spot has ever since been called Sachem's Plain, and occupies a beau- 
tiful rise of ground in the eastern part of Norwich. 

In accordance with the resolutions of the commissioners, both Con- 
necticut and New Haven sent armed men to protect Uncas. Governor 
Winthrop sent messengers to Canonicus, the aged Narragansett sachem, 
acquainting him with the mischievous plot of Miantonimo, and justifying 
his execution by his violation of the treaty of 1638, his attempt to mur- 



1643] DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT 37 

der Uncas, and his intrigues against the Vv'hites. They then offered peace 
to him and the Narragansetts, in the name of the united colonies. The 
General Court of Connecticut passed a law authorizing the governor, the 
deputy-governor, or two magistrates " upon any sudden occasion or immi- 
nent danger to press men & ammunition for the defence of the country in 
their necessary travel from town to town : also that each of the towns 
should have fixed places, where guards should be stationed, from which 
points in case of danger the inhabitants might be given timely alarm." 
To avoid quarrels with the Indians, the planters were forbidden to trust 
them with goods or commodities, under a penalty of double the value of 
the sale; and " that they should not trade with the mat or in their wig- 
wams, but in vessels or Pinnaces, or at their own houses, under a penalty 
of 20 s. each time." 

In addition to the guard of forty men, it was ordered that one man out 
of every family should go fully armed to the meeting-house on the Sab- 
bath and lecture days, under a fine of I2r/. for every neglect of the same, 
" whereof 6 d. was to be paid to the party that should so inform, & 6 d. 
to the public treasury." A tax of forty pounds was levied on all the towns 
for repairing the fort at Saybrook. According to the determination of 
the commissioners, the soldiers in each of the towns were required to 
train six days in the yekr, which days should be appointed by the captains 
or chief ofificers of the train bands, namely, on the first weeks of March, 
April, May, September, October and November. " If the day appointed 
proved unseasonable, the Officers were to appoint the next fair day." 
Eight o'clock was the hour set for the training to begin. Those who were 
absent on such occasions were to be fined 2s. 6d. for every default, except 
they had been given a license for leave of absence under the hand of two 
magistrates. The clerks of the bands were to levy upon the delinquents 
within fourteen days after the forfeiture, and to take 6d. for themselves, 
and pay the remainder towards the maintainance of drums, colors, etc. If 
the clerks neglected their duty, they v/ere obliged to pay double the 
amount of the soldier's fine. Those who were deemed expert soldiers 
were allowed release on half a day's duty. Roger Ludlow was appointed 
to call forth the soldiers of the towns " upon the sea coast," and to exer- 
cise them according to the above act, until some other officer should be 
appointed in his place. Thus Ludlow was not only the first judge of the 
town and county court, but the first military ofificer of Fairfield. In this 
dread hour, when the inhabitants were few in numbers, upon Ludlow fell 
the care and protection of the plantation of Uncoway. Upon the Meeting- 
house green he assembled his small band of ofificers and men at home. 



38 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1643 

with the planters from the neighboring towns, and drilled them for the 
hour of approaching danger. Several within the past two years had joined 
the plantation, so that there were enough men to make a considerable 
show of resistance. 

The appearance of an English soldier in those days was a formidable 
one to the red sons of the forest. His gay, military dress; his long pike of 
ten feet, tipped with sharp-pointed iron, which he carried in a rest fastened 
to a belt around his waist ; his sword hanging in its scabbard at his side, 
and his long musket and steel bayonet, made him a spectacle of admiration 
and dread. But now that the Indians possessed English muskets, which 
they used with great skill, their attitude was one more dangerous than ever 
before. 

During this year the Dutch had cause to deplore the great wrong done 
by their traders, in selling arms to the Indians. A quarrel had arisen 
owing to a drunken Indian having killed one of their number. The Dutch 
demanded that the murderer should be given up to justice ; but their 
governor, not willing to excite the Indians, neglected to take steps in the 
case. In the mean time, some of the Dutch excited the Mohawks against 
the Indians in the vicinity of their settlements, who, in an unexpected 
moment, fell upon them, killing about thirty of their number. A Dutch 
captain, named Marine, obtained a commission from the governor to kill 
as many Indians as fell in his power. With a company of armed men 
he made a sudden attack upon them and killed about seventy or eighty 
men, women and children. The Indians, now fully aroused in that part of 
the country, began a furious and bloody war. They seized the Dutch 
cattle and hogs and burned them in their barns. Twenty or more Dutch- 
men were killed and others fled to their fort for protection. The Indians 
upon Long Island joined in the war, and burned the houses and barns of 
the Dutch planters. At this critical moment, the Dutch governor made 
application to Governor Eaton, of New Haven, to send one hundred men 
to his relief. In his extremity he also applied to Captain Underhill, of 
Stamford, to assist him, which so exasperated Captain Marine, that he 
presented his pistol at the governor, and would have shot him had he not 
been prevented by one who stood near. One of Captain Marine's attend- 
ants discharged his musket at the governor, and the ball hardly grazed 
him, when the man himself was shot dead by a sentinel. Those among 
the Dutch who had been determined upon a war with the Indians, now 
dreading its consequences, vented their indignation upon the governor for 
having given a commission to Captain Marine. In their fury they were 
ready to destroy him, and for his personal safety he was obliged to keep a 



1643] DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT 39 

guard of fifty Englishmen about him. The Indians continued their dep- 
redations and murders, so that by fall all the inhabitants of the Dutch 
and English settlements west of Stamford were driven in. 

Among those most cruelly murdered, at this time, was Mrs. Anne Hutch- 
inson, who for her religious tenets had been banished from Boston. Not 
only she, but every member of her household, her son-in-law, Mr. Collins, 
and several neighbors were killed, numbering eighteen in all. The fury of 
the Indians made great havoc among the cattle and the ingatherings of 
the summer harvest, which were burned without resistance. 

The Dutch on Long Island who had been obliged to escape from their 
plantations to their fort, were driven to the necessity of killing their cattle 
for subsistence, until their condition became one of great distress, and one 
which called for Christian aid from their English neighbors. 

New Haven had refused to send men to the assistance of the Dutch 
governor, upon the ground that it was incompatible with the articles of 
confederation. They also questioned the justice of this war. Neverthe- 
less, it was decided to send them all the corn and provisions necessary for 
themsexves and their cattle. Captain Underhill, of Stamford, rendered 
them great assistance. With a flying army of from one hundred and 
twenty to one hundred and fifty English and Dutch, he protected their 
settlements from total annihilation. It was estimated that he killed about 
•five hundred Indians on Long Island. The Stamford Indians caught the 
war spirit of the neighboring tribes, and fears were entertained that the 
settlement would be cut off. In their distress they called upon New 
Haven to protect them, according to the articles of confederation, or bear 
the expense of their losses. The Narragansetts were enraged at the 
execution of Miantonimo. Every white man bore arms, and the gloom of a 
speedy conflict with the Indians on all sides, filled the hearts of the whites 
with the greatest apprehensions. 

The General Court of Connecticut appointed Wednesday, the 6th of 
June, as a day of fasting and prayer in all the towns throughout the juris- 
diction. The same day was observed in the New Haven plantations. 
Prayers were also offered for their gracious sovereign. King Charles I., 
around whom raged the horrors of a civil war. So great was the alarm 
among the chief officers of the colony, that, on the 3d of January, the 
General Court of Connecticut ordered "one day in each month to be set 
apart as a day of humiliation, fasting and prayer, according to the course 
of their neighbors in New Haven, to begin upon Wednesday, the lo. 
inst." From Stamford the war spirit reached the Indians at Fairfield. 

In the spring a man from Massachusetts was murdered by an Indian 



40 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1644 

near Stratford. Ludlow demanded that the murderer should be given 
up to justice. This the Indians agreed to do, and desired that ten men 
should be sent out to receive him. When they saw the Englishmen 
approaching them, by mutual consent they unbound the prisoner, who 
forthwith plunged into the forest and made good his escape. 

Ludlow regarded this treacherous act to be an insult to the town, 
seized eight or ten Indians, one or two of whom were sachems, and 
imprisoned them, until the murderer should be brought to him. The 
Indians then rose in the most hostile manner. Ludlow wrote to New- 
Haven for advice and assistance. Twenty well-armed men were dispatched 
to his relief. In the mean time four of the neighboring sachems entered 
the town, and promised Ludlow that if the imprisoned Indians were 
released, they would deliver up the murderer to justice within a month. 
This proposition was agreed upon, and the prisoners were released, but 
there seems to be no evidence that they kept their word. 

The rise of the Indians in Virginia and the horrible massacre of the 
whites which followed gave grounds for the belief that a further combi- 
nation had been made between the Southern and New England Indians, 
for the extermination of all the white men in the country. Notwithstand- 
ing the dangers which surrounded them, the work of bringing order out 
of confusion was continued by the General Court. 

In order to prevent unnecessary trials before juries, it was decided 
that all suits under 40s. should be tried before the court of magistrates ; 
and that in all jury cases the magistrates should have power, in case the 
jury disagreed, to send them out a second time. If they then disagreed, 
and did not render a verdict according to the evidence given in, the court 
was granted power to summon a new jury ; and to alter the decisions of 
a jury in amount of damages given in "as should be judged most equal 
and righteous." If four out of a jury of six, or eight out of twelve 
agreed, their verdict was to be decisive. That honesty among merchants 
might be firmly established, the clerks in the several towns were required 
once in every year, to appoint a certain day and place, to give timely 
notice for the inhabitants to bring in their measures for inspection, that 
they might be tried and compared with the standard weights, measures, 
etc. Only such yards, weights and measures as had been sealed were to 
be sold. Good linen and woolen yarn fell under a careful inspection. 
Any one failing to obey orders, was subject to a penalty of I2</. each 
default, to be collected by the clerks; and if upon trial any measures were 
found lower than the standard, they were to cut out the seal. Owing 
to the injury done in the colony by sea captains and such as sold wine 



1644] DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT 4I 

and liquor from vessels and in private houses, it was ordered " that no 
person should sell wine, liquor or strong water in any place, without a 
license from the particular court, or from two magistrates." 

Seven men were to be chosen from each plantation to write out their 
individual opinions as to the manner in which the public lands might 
be improved for the common good ; and their decision or that of any 
five of them was to control the other planters. This committee was also 
to order the common fencing around land under cultivation. It was 
provided that any particular person or persons should have liberty to 
fence his own allotments according to his or their discretion by mutual 
agreement, notwithstanding the above order. 

On the 3d of June the following important act was passed. 

" Whereas many strayngers & passengers vppon occation haue recourse to these 
Townes, are streightened for waint of entertainment, It is now Ordered, that these 
seuerall Townes shall prouide amongst theselues in each Towne, one sufficient inhabitant 
to keepe an Ordinary, for provisions & lodgeing, in some comfortable manner, that such 
passengers or strayngers may know where to resorte ; & such inhabitants as by the 
seuerall Townes shall be chosen for the said shall searuice, be presented to two Magis- 
trats, that they may be judged meet lor that imployment ; & this to be effected by the 
severall Townes w*^ in one month, under the penalty of 40 s. a month, ech month ether 
Towne shall neglect y'." 

Servants and apprentices were not to spend their time to their own 
advantage, under a penalty of serving their masters threefold the time 
so spent after their time of service had expired. The clerks in each of 
the towns were required to keep a record of all marriages and births 
within three days after a marriage or the birth of a child. A penalty of 
55. was laid upon any man who did not within three days register his 
marriage. At this time Ludlow requested an answer to his letter, asking 
the General Court to determine the manner in which he should lay a tax 
upon the inhabitants of Stratford and Uncoway, and also to decide what he 
should charge for his services to the country. As yet Fairfield had not been 
subject to a public tax. According to the laws of Connecticut, before a 
company was allowed to enter upon the work of a new settlement, the 
General Court required that they should prove themselves capable of col- 
onizing a town and maintaining a clergyman. 

Thus far the town of Fairfield had steadily increased in numbers ; 
but as yet no church had been built nor any regular minister settled over 
the parish. It was the custom in those days in the beginning of a settle- 
ment for the ruling elders and deacons to carry out the discipline of the 
society, until the services of a pastor could be secured. The anticipation, 



42 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1644 

however, of a settled minister, with an increase in numbers from Concord, 
very considerably brightened the prospects of the plantation, so that 
Ludlow, eager to obtain the full privileges of an incorporated town, had 
applied to the General Court, to fix the amount by which the inhabitants 
should be taxed. 

The heavy taxes at this time laid upon the plantations of Massa- 
chusetts, had b&come burdensome to many, and especially to the planters 
of Concord, who, to their great disappointment, " found the soil of 
that town very barren & the meadows wet & useless," In 1643 they 
petitioned the General Court to abate their taxes on this account. An- 
other difficulty had also arisen in regard to their inability to support two 
ministers. Some refused to bear their proportion of the public charge, 
some removed to older or newer settlements, and others returned to 
England, so that the town rapidly decreased in numbers. 

In the summer of 1644 the Rev-. John Jones, with about one-seventh 
or one-eiglith of the planters of Concord and their families removed to 
Fairfield. The list of those who came, so far as it can be gathered from 
authentic sources is as follows. 

Rev. John Jones. Joseph Middlebrook.* 

Thomas Bulkley. John Thompkins. 

Daniel Bulkley. Ephrai'm Wheeler. 

Thomas Jones. Thomas Wheeler, jr. 

William Bateman. James Bennet. 

William Odell. Richard Letten. 

John Evarts. Benjamin Turney. 

Peter Johnson. George Square. 

Thomas Wheeler, sr., according to the Wheeler journal, had joined the 
plantation in 1640, and was, as has already been stated, the first settler at 
Black Rock.t Ephraim Wheeler, Thomas Wheeler, sr,, Thomas Wheeler, 
jr., William Odell, John Evarts, Joseph Middlebrook, James Bennet, Peter 
Johnson and Benjamin Turney afterwards settled at Pequonnock. There 
is ground for believing that some of this company first settled at Black- 
rock and very soon after went to Pequonnock. The others remained at 
Fairfield. Several joined the settlement this year from other towns, 
among whom were William Hill, sr., his son William Hill, jr,, Richard 
Westcoat, John Green, Charles Taintor, Samuel Gregory, James Beers, 
Jehu and John Burr, with their kinsman John Cable. Besides these 
there are others, of which mention will be made hereafter. The Rev. John 

* Shattuck's History of Concord. 

f This statement does not agree with Shattuck or Savage, yet it may be true. 



1644] DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT 43 

Jones was granted about seven acres of land in the rear of the Meeting- 
house green, six acres of which was afterwards called his orchard.^ His 
dwelling-house, which probably had been built before his coming, stood 
back of Edward's pond, with inerc-stoncs between it and the green, run- 
ning from the north-west corner of his land straight to Jehu Burr's home- 
lot. Thomas and Daniel Bulkley were granted home-lots in the Newton 
square, on the north-east side of the green, adjoining the parsonage land. 
The street running to the Sound between this square and the green was 
given the name of Concord street. Thomas Jones was granted the corner 
home-lot south-east of the Bulkleys ; and William Hill, sr., a home-lot 
north-east of the Newton square, on Dorchester street, bounded north- 
west by the land of Peter Johnson and Ro'oert Turney; south-east by his 
son William Hill, jr., and south-west by a highway running to the beach. 
He afterwards purchased of Alexander Briant, of Milford, the north-east 
corner lot of the Newton square, upon which he lived at the time of his 
death, which occurred before 1650, at which time this place is called that 
of his widow Sarah Hill. George Hull's home-lot lay north-west of William 
Hill's ; William Bateman's on the same side of the square, between George 
Squire's and a lot for many years after called Lewis' lot.f John Thomp- 
kins' home-lot lay west of the pond afterwards called Hide's pond. 

There appe-ars to have been a second dividend of the common lands 
about this time. Stratford laid claim to all the lands at Pequonnock lying 
on the east side of Mutton lane, which some years afterwards received 
the name of Division street. All that part of Pequonnock south-east of 
Golden-hill, between this lane and the Pequonnock river, was given the 
name of Wolves' Pit plain. It was the custom in those days to dig deep 
pits in the woods and on the plains, into which wolves and foxes unsus- 
piciously fell, and were taken by the planters. The high land at the 
harbor, west of Mutton lane, was called Greenlea.:}; North of Greenlea, 
and west of Mutton lane lay the earliest settlement of Pequonnock. The 
small green near the old Pequonnock burying-ground appears to have 
been the common green used for training, etc. North-east and south-east 
of this green the first planters took up their home-lots. As their num- 
bers increased, some of them, with their sons and sons-in-law erected 

* This property afterwards fell into the possession of the Bulkleys, and is now owned by the 
Glover family. Daniel Bulkley's land is mentioned as having been willed to his brother Thomas, 
in A of Town Deeds, p. 267. 

t This lot was granted to William Hill, jr., the 13. Feb. 1670 (A, Town Deeds, p. 96), and is 
now owned by Judge S. Glover. 

X Seaside park and the beautiful residences north of it once formed a part of Greenlea. 



44 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1644 

dwellings at Greenlea. Others found home-lots and fine farming lands 
along the gradual rise of Tilesoine (Toilsome) hill, the summit of which 
overlooks a magnificent view of the surrounding country and Long Island 
Sound. 

On the east of the settlement, to the west banks of the Pequonnock 
river, was the Indian reservation of Golden-hill. Another reservation, 
called the Old Indian Field, which has already been mentioned, was laid 
out on a neck of land east of the Uncoway river at Black Rock. 

North-west of what was called the Old Indian Field at Black Rock was 
Try's field,* celebrated for having been the spot upon which the witch 
Knap was hung, and on the south-east Fairweather island and the village 
or " the plain of Black Rock." Fairweather island at that time, like the 
coast all along the Sound, was covered with beech trees. A road extended 
from Division street to the south-west end of the island, shaded by these 
trees. From time to time the cutting down of the beech trees for fuel, 
very materially affected the size and shape of the island, causing the sand 
and soil to be washed down into the harbor. Black Rock was so named 
from the black grass or salt grass, and the dark color of the rocks extend- 
ing out into the Sound. Grover's-hill, which rises southward from , the 
plain to a considerable height, affords a magnificent view of the Sound 
and the surrounding country. It was probably one of the points at a very 
early date, from which the guards of the town watched the maneuvers of 
the Indians, and the approach of Dutch and foreign vessels at this hostile 
period. The point of land rising between the west bank of the Uncoway 
river and the salt meadows on the west, was for many years called See- 
ley's point, and at a later date the Penfield mill property ; while the rise 
of meadow land west of the salt meadows, received the name of Paul's 
neck. The hill which rises at the junction of the Uncoway river and 
Uncoway or Mill creek, was for many years called the Old Mill-hill. 
North-west of this hill, between Paul's neck and Ludlow's pasture lot, lay 
the Windsor field. North of this, stretching towards Pequonnock, was the 
Concord field. A rise of ground in this field, overlooking a wide expanse 
of scenery, has been called Nature Displayed. North of this rises Holland 
hill, first called Tunzix hill. North-west of this hill lies Fairfield woods, 
in which was another wolves' swamp. At the foot of Holland hill, a 
peculiar bend in the old king's highway, gave rise to the name of Cheer, 
or Chair swamp. South-west of Concord field lay Barlozvs plains, extend- 
ing through to Mill river. This plain was named after John Barlow, who 
removed thither from the Ludlow square. The locality appears to have 

* Will of Henry Jackson, Fairfield Probate Records, 1682. 



i644] ' DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT 45 

been an aristocratic part of the town, a fine park having been laid out in 
it, around which the planters took up their home-lots. It became in time 
a famous resort for " turkey matches." Another place for these turkey- 
matches was on the Black Rock turnpike near samp-mortar rocks.* A 
medicinal spring existed here called the Honey-pot, so named from honey 
found near it, the waters of which the Indians believed possessed great 
healing properties. North-west of the park rises Clapboard hill, on the 
north of which is Osborne's hill, and on the west Round hill. The land 
lying between Barlow's plain and Hide's pond, was called " The RocksT 
Between Paul's neck and Concord street, extending to the Sound, was the 
" middle meadow." All the upland on the coast lying between Concord 
street and Sasco neck, was called the " the great meadow before the toiv7i" 
Within this meadow, near Burial hill, was another pond surrounded with 
reeds. Seventeen acres running from the rear of Burial hill and the Burr 
property to the sea-beach, belonged to Ludlow, through which, from the 
north-west to the south-east was "a strip of reeds." West of this field, in 
the rear of the Burr square, were dense woods called Wolves swatup. 
Along the coast south-west of Wolves' swamp to Sasqua hill, lay Sasqua 
neck, through which runs Pine creek. The land in this neck is intersected 
with innumerable small streamlets, which at high tide in those days over- 
flowed the meadows. The island now known as Ward's island was soon 
afterwards allotted to Simon Hoyt, and called Hoyt's island. North-west 
of this lay another small island, named Evarts' island, while an island east 
of Pine creek covered with pines, at a later date granted to the Rev. Sam- 
uel Wakeman, was named Wakeman's island. Hawkins' point lay east of 
this island and Pine creek, while east of these lay the island or peninsula, 
now known as the Penfield reef, the Cows, and the causeway, upon the 
extreme east end of which stands a government lighthouse. Flat island 
is still found at the mouth of Pine creek. Between Sasqua neck and Mill 
river rose Sasqua hill, the summit of which commands an extensive view 
of Long Island Sound, Fairfield, Mill-plain, and the Sasqua fields on the 
west of the river. The beautiful valley southwest of Barlow's plain and 
the Rocks was given the name of Mill plain. The Sasqua fields lay 
between the west banks of Mill river and Maxumux or Bankside. The 
small winding stream which runs out of the west side of Mill river, a short 
distance above the mouth of the harbor, still retains the name of Sascoe 
creek. The stream which empties into the Sound about half a mile west 
of this creek, near Frost's point, also retains the name of Sascoe river. 
About one mile from its mouth it widens to a considerable extent, form- 
* Testimony of Mr. Stephen Morehouse of Fairfield. 



46 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1644 

ing a large pond, which was called '' the great pond^' "the great mill pond 
in the Sasqua fields," and afterwards Sasco pond. Two other large ponds 
were found in these fields, one of which still exists, and is situated about 
half a mile south-west of the Sascoe mill pond. The other was but a 
short distance north-east of Pequot swamp, but was drained and filled up 
within the present century.^^ 

The highway which extended from Fairfield to Maxumux, forked from 
the Fairfield turnpike leading into Mill plain, across the fields to the east 
slope of Sasqua hill ; ran below the hills along the west bank of Mill river, 
until it crossed the stone bridge over Sasco creek, wound west a short dis- 
tance, when it again crossed a second stone bridge over the same stream 
called the Horse tavern (on account of its having been a drinking-place for 
horses) and taking a south-westerly course along the beach, crossed Sasco 
river to the grazing fields of Maxumux. 

North and north-west of the town lay a vast wilderness of undivided 
land, inhabited by the Sasqua and Aspetuck Indians, which at a later date 
included the long lots and tJie upper meadow. These fields and meadows 
were portioned out, according to the necessity of the planters, to be 
improved by them, and were afterwards sold among themselves and to 
new-comers, although, in reality, they had no legal claim to them, save 
that authorized by the General Court of Connecticut. 

The first grist mill was situated on the Sasqua river at Mill plain, and 
was erected by Thomas Sherwood of Fairfield. John Green soon after 
erected another mill above this on the same stream ; hence the name of 
Sasqua was changed to that of the Mill river. 

The Indians becoming more troublesome than ever, led the commis- 
sioners of the united colonies to meet at Hartford in September.f It 
was agreed to send Thomas Stanton, with Nathaniel Willets, to the chief 
sachems of the Narragansetts, with the request that they should, for the 
time being, cease all hostilities against Uncas, until after a hearing before 
the commissioners. They were promised protection and a safe passage to 
and from Hartford. The Narragansetts sent one of their chief sachems 
with his attending counselors to accompany Stanton and VVillets on their 
return. Uncas also appeared before the commissioners. After hearing 

* This pond was drained and filled up by Noah Pike of New York, and made into a beautiful 
lawn before his residence, which he erected upon a rise of ground on the north-west of it. and at 
the present day is owned by the heirs of the late George Bulkley, Esq. 

•j- The Indians all over the country were in a high state of hostility. " In Virginia they rose & 
made a most horrible sacrifice of the English, & it was imagined that there was a general com- 
bination among the southern & New England Indians to destroy all the colonies." — Trumbull's 
Hist. Conn., I., 145. 



1644] DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT 47 

the complaints alleged by the Narragansetts against him, whom they 
accused of refusing to receive a ransom offered for the life of Miantonimo, 
which they could not prove, it was agreed that all hostilities should cease 
"until after the next year's time of planting corn." The Narragansetts 
also promised that at the end of this time they would not make war upon 
Uncas, without giving at least thirty days' notice to the governors of 
Massachusetts and Connecticut. Some of the Long Island Indians were 
also present. They stated that having paid tribute to the English since 
the Pequot war, and never having injured any white settlers, either 
English or Dutch, they desired a certiiicate of their allegiance to the 
English, and that they might be taken under the protection of the united 
colonies. A certificate was given upon their promising that they would 
live at peace with the neighboring tribes, and not join them in their 
hostilities against the Dutch or English. 

A general trade with the Indians was proposed, under a stock company 
of five or six thousand pounds, which was defeated by the Massachusetts 
commissioners. It was agreed that the verdict of any one of the General 
Courts should be treated with all due respect by the other courts through- 
out the colonies, until some other evidence should make it null and void. 
The danger of selling fire-arms and ammunition to the French and Dutch 
was commended to the serious consideration of the several jurisdictions. 
Connecticut ordered " that no persons within her liberties should sell nether 
gun nor pistoll, nor any instrument of war to Dutch or French men, under 
the penalty of forfeiting twenty for one ; & suffering such further corporall 
punishment as the Court shall inflict." 

The relief occasioned by the treaty with the Narragansetts and Long 
Island Indians, for the time being, caused great rejoicing in the colonies. 
The General Court of Connecticut appointed Wednesday the 9th of Sep- 
tember as a public day of thanksgiving throughout the jurisdiction. 

The court also took into consideration the necessity of relieving the 
planters of a surplus amount of corn, which, since wheat and other English 
crops had been abundantly raised, had fallen in price and become unsale- 
able. It was deemed advisable to make some further effort toward send- 
ing it abroad, which hitherto had been prevented for want of vessels to 
export it. In order to encourage its cultivation for this purpose, it was 
ordered by the court that no English grain should be sold out of the Con- 
necticut river but to Edward Hopkins, Esq., Mr. William Whiting and 
such other merchants as they should appoint. These gentlemen were " to 
undertake the transportation thereof unto some parts beyond the sea," at 
the rate of four shillings a bushel. Wheat also and peas were to be sent 



48 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1644 

and sold at three shillings a bushel. In case the vessel which transported 
" this adventure " was lost, one half of the valuation of the grain was to be 
at " the risk of the owners thereof." No one person was allowed to send 
more than one hundred bushels at a time. Upon the return of the ship 
the committee were to pay the owners of the grain, in the best and most 
suitable English commodities that were deemed necessary for the support 
of the plantations. At the same time it was made a law that any person 
who sent corn out of the country in any other way or by any other per- 
sons than by those the court appointed, should forfeit one-half the valua- 
tion of his grain, which was to be divided into equal parts, one-half to the 
discoverer of " the deceit," and the other half to be paid to the town 
treasury. 

From the will of William Frost, dated 6th Jan. 1644-5, we learn that he 
left the following bequest : " And to the town of Uncowah I give & 
bequeath tenn pounds in good pay, towards building a meeting house to be 
paid when y* is half built." Henry Gray, his son-in-law, was to pay this sum 
at the specified time, and Ephraim Wheeler and Daniel Frost, as over- 
seers of his estate, were to see that the will was " performed to the intent 
thereof." The church covenant, under which the first settlers of Uncoway 
united, was, without doubt, the same as that used by the members of the 
West Parish of Green's farms, and in the North-west Parish of Greenfield 
hill, the covenant in both parishes being the same. The only extant par- 
ish record of the Fairfield church is that begun by the Rev. Joseph Webb 
in 1694. The first meeting-house erected at Fairfield was called Christ's 
Church, and stood upon the Frost square south-east the school and town 
house, facing north-east. It was evidently a building of good size and 
comfortable accommodations. The school-house probably served as a 
Sabbath-day house. The church society received the name of the Prime 
Ancient Society. 

An important step toward the maintainance of ministers and poor 
young men at Harvard College was at this time taken by the commission- 
ers of the united colonies. It was proposed that every person of intelli- 
g2nce and means in all the plantations in the Nevv England colony should 
voluntarily agree to give annually a certain fixed sum for these purposes. 
This order was confirmed by the General Court of Connecticut on the 25th 
of October. Mr. Jehu Burr and Ephraim Wheeler were appointed to this 
trust for Fairfield. 

Cattle of all kinds were kept by herdsmen annually appointed and 
paid by the towns to care for them. The Maxumux land was a favorite 
grazing place. In those days, while bears and wolves were numerous, a 



i645] DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT 49 

herdsman was indispensable. That each owner might be able to recognize 
his cattle or swine in case they strayed from the herdsmen, a law was 
passed requiring that every owner should have ear marks or brands on 
all his animals over half a year old (except horses), and that their sev- 
eral marks be registered in the town book. Letter B of Fairfield Votes 
presents many interesting marks of the different owners of cattle. 

The previous requirement in the fundamental order, that the General 
Court should consist of a governor, or some one appointed by him as mod- 
erator, with four other magistrates, was changed at this time, and it was 
made lawful for the governor or deputy-governor and a large part of the 
magistrates and deputies to be a legal court. At the court of election 
held on the loth of April, Ludlow was chosen one of the magistrates of 
the General Court, and Thomas Newton a deputy from Fairfield. The 
requirement of six days in the first weeks of the several months for train- 
ing was changed to three days. 

Two colony fairs were annually allowed to be held at Hartford, on the 
second Wednesdays in May and September. 

The distance of Fairfield from Hartford seriously interfered with cases 
referred to the General Court, in consequence of which Governor John 
Haynes, upon the motion of Ludlow, in behalf of the plantations, " con- 
sented to hold a court twice this year at the seaside," with liberty to take 
what magistrates he pleased with him. The appearance of the governor 
himself among the inhabitants of Fairfield, and so important an event as 
his presence in the court, must have been an occasion of no small excite- 
ment among the planters of Uncoway and Cupheag. It was also ordered 
that a letter should be addressed to Governor Fenwick, desiring him, " if 
occasion would permit," to go to England to obtain an enlargement of the 
Connecticut patent, " and for the further advantages of the Country." 
Mr. Fenwick did not accept the appointment, and New Haven soon 
after concluded to join with Connecticut in obtaining patents of their 
lands from Parliament. On the nth of November Thomas Gregson, 
Esq., was appointed from New Haven to undertake a voyage to Eng- 
land, for this purpose, but the loss of the ship in which he sailed and 
the condition of affairs in England resulted in giving up the project for 
the time being. 

In July two hundred pounds were levied upon the plantations towards 
purchasing the fort at Saybrook, to be paid in grain, at such prices as a 
committee appointed to receive it should agree upon. The measures 
which had been adopted to make peace with the Indians proved unsuc- 
cessful. The Narragansetts could not restrain their resentment towards 
4 



50 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1645 

Uncas, but, in violation of their treaty, invaded his territory, assaulted 
him in his fort and killed several of his men. A special meeting of the 
commissioners was called and held at Boston on the 28th of June. Again 
messengers were dispatched into the Narragansett and Moheagan coun- 
tries, inviting them to attend the meeting of the commissioners, with 
assurances of protection and a just settlement of their difficulties. The 
Narragansetts received the messengers with courtesy, but upon hearing 
their proposition became infuriated and utterly refused to visit Boston. 
Nothing but the blood of Uncas would satisfy them. They abused the 
messengers and threatened to kill the English cattle, and shoot every 
Englishman who stepped out of his door. One of their sachems declared 
that whoever began the war, he would continue it until Uncas should be 
delivered up to them. 

Roger Williams of Rhode Island wrote to the commissioners that an 
Indian war was inevitable, but that he had concluded a neutrality with 
them in behalf of Providence and the towns upon the Aquidney Islands. 
Still hoping to prevent so great a calamity, the commissioners sought the 
advice of the magistrates, church elders and principal military officers of 
Massachusetts. They promptly replied, and gave their unanimous opinion 
that according to the engagement made with Uncas, they were obliged to 
defend him in his fort and to protect him and his men in all their estates 
and liberties without delay, or he would be destroyed. It was agreed that 
war should be declared, and that three hundred men should be immedi- 
ately raised and sent against the Narragansetts. Of this force it was voted 
that Massachusetts should send one hundred and ninety men, Plymouth 
and Connecticut forty each, and New Haven thirty. From the Connecti- 
cut and New Haven soldiers, who had formerly been sent to protect Uncas, 
and who were at this time about to return home, forty men, under the 
command of Captain Humphrey, were immediately impressed in Massa- 
chusetts. In three days, completely armed and victualed, they set out for 
the Moheagan country. The General Court also ordered that the magis- 
trates, or the greater part of them, should, if they saw fit, press men and 
ammunition for a defensive war, or defend the Moheagans until the next 
sitting of the court. New Haven gave the same order. Captain Mason 
was forwarded a commission to take command of the Connecticut troops 
upon their arrival at Moheagan. Major Edward Gibbons of Massachusetts 
was appointed commander-in-chief of the whole army, with instructions 
to offer peace to the Narragansetts upon honorable terms. In case they 
refused to enter into a treaty with him, he was further instructed, that if 
they would neither fight nor accept his offer of peace, to invade their 



i645] DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT 5 1 

country and t^ erect forts upon the Niantick river and Narragansett, in 
which to store the corn and goods which he should take from them. 

Hoping to make peace with the English, the Narragansetts sent a 
present to Governor Winthrop, requesting that they might make war upon 
Uncas in order to revenge the death of Miantonimo. The present was 
refused, but upon their desire that it should be left with the governor 
until they could communicate with their sachems, it was allowed to 
remain. The commissioners, however, without delay ordered it to be 
returned by messengers sent to inform the Narragansett sachems that they 
would neither accept their present nor ofTer them peace until they had 
had made satisfaction for past injuries and given security for their good 
conduct in the future. When the messengers informed Passacus, the chief 
sachem of the Narragansetts, of the object of their visit, that the English 
were as desirous of peace with him and his men as they had ever been, he 
requested them to take back the present, and to say that he and some of 
his chief nicn would immediately visit Boston. The messengers returned 
with the Indian present, and wrote to Captain Mason that there was a 
prospect of peace. The commissioners, however, regarding the step as 
one of delay on the part of the Narragansetts in order to make time for 
war, reproved the messengers for bringing the present back and for writing 
without authority to Captain Mason. 

A few days after Passacus, Mehsamo, the eldest son of Cannonicus, 
and Wytowash, three principal sachems, with Awashequen from the 
Nehantic tribe, and a long and imposing retinue of attendants visited Bos- 
ton. They again desired a year's planting time, which was refused by the 
commissioners. When pressed with the injuries done to Uncas, their 
threats against the English, and with the great expense the latter were 
suffering in order to protect Uncas and maintain the peace of the country, 
the sachems reluctantly acknowledged their breach of the treaty. Accord- 
ing to an Indian custom they presented a stick to the commission- 
ers, in token of their submission and desire to make peace according to 
their wishes. They then inquired what the English wished. 

Two thousand fathoms of white wampum was demanded by the com- 
missioners as but a small sum for the danger and expense incurred by the 
trouble the Narragansetts had made. They required that all the captives 
and canoes taken from Uncas should be returned to him, and that any 
future troubles with him should be submitted to the English. They also 
promised that Uncas should return all the captives and canoes which he 
had taken from them. In order to give proof of their sincerity hostages 
were demanded. These terms seemed hard to the Narragansetts, but 



52 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1646 

after some abatement in the amount required, on the 30th of August they 
reluctantly signed the articles of peace, which only fear of the English 
arms led them to do. Some of their men were left as hostages until a 
certain number of their children should be delivered as a faithful secu- 
rity of their sincerity to this treaty. 

Again joy reigned in the homes of the English, and on the day the 
troops were disbanded a general thanksgiving was celebrated by all the 
towns in the colonies. The names of Jehu Burr and Thomas Sherwood 
appear on the list of deputies from Fairfield sent to attend the meeting 
of the General Court, on the nth of September, at which time Ludlow 
accompanied them as one of the magistrates of the court. 

The principal act of this court appears to have been that of appointing 
the constable of Hartford to make out an account of the expenses 
incurred by the colony in defense of its own rights, and the support given 
to Uncas. The provisions gathered were to be sent to Mr. Whiting, the 
treasurer of the colony, who was to sell them and pay the proceeds of the 
sale to the soldiers engaged in the undertaking. 

In December a tax of four hundred pounds was laid upon all the planta- 
tions of Connecticut towards paying the expenses of the late expedition 
against the Narragansetts, out of which Stratford and Fairfield were taxed 
to the amount of forty-five pounds. This year Ludlow was again elected 
one of the assistant judges of the General Court ; and Jehu Burr and 
Anthony Wilson were chosen deputies from Fairfield. An important act 
was passed on the i ith of April in regard to juries, viz.: that whatever alter- 
ations should at any time be made by the magistrates in cases of damages 
given in by a jury, it should be made in open court before the plain- 
tiff and defendant, or on affidavit sent that they had been summoned to 
appear. 

Ludlow and the Fairfield deputies took exception to a jury of six allowed 
in 1644, and insisted that twelve jurors should always be had in jury cases. 
They agreed, however, that eight or twelve might bring in a verdict. One 
of the greatest honors offered to a pioneer of New England was at the 
sitting of this court paid to Ludlow. He was "desired to take some 
paynes in drawing forth a body of lawes for the government of this Com- 
monwealth, & present them to the next General Court ; & if he can 
provide a man for this occasion, while he is employed in the said searvice, 
he shall be paid at the Country chardge." 

It was also ordered that there should be two particular courts held the 
next preceding day before the two standing General Courts, that at both 
the assistance of Ludlow might be had in such actions as were presented, 



1646] DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT 53 

either from the river settlements or the seaside. The taxes of Fairfield 
and Stratford were ordered to be divided between the two towns. To add 
to the punishment of persons who had been whipped for any scandalous 
oiTense, an act was passed, that they should not be allowed to vote in town 
or commonwealth, " until the Court should manifest their satisfaction." 
Owing to the inconvenience of the planters in attending the court of 
election in April, when the plantations required full attention, it was 
voted to change the date to the third Thursday in May. " 

This year the Dutch became more exacting concerning their territories 
both at New Haven and in Connecticut. At Hartford they maintained a 
distinct government, and would in no wise submit to the laws of the 
colony. At the meeting of the commissioners at New Haven in Septem- 
ber the troubles of the Dutch were laid before them. A letter was writ- 
ten and sent to Governor Keift, in which an effort was made to compro- 
mise the difficulties between them and the English, to which the Dutch 
governor returned a haughty reply. The Indians continued exceedingly 
troublesome. A plot was set on foot to murder Governor Hopkins, Gov- 
ernor Haynes, Secretary Whiting, and Uncas, which was revealed to the 
whites by an Indian employed by Sequassen to commit the murders, f 
The Milford Indians proved very troublesome, and attempted to burn the 
town by setting fire to the swamps on the west and north, which the plant- 
ers discovered in time to extinguish it and save the town. 

Meanwhile the Indians about Milford, Stratford and Fairfield suffered 
from a descent upon them by the Mohawks, who attempted to surprise 
them in their fort. The English discovering the design, informed those 
in peril, who immediately set up the ^^•ar-whoop. Their men flocked to 
the fort. A battle took place, in which the Mohawks were overpowered, 
and several of them taken prisoners. One of their captains was bound and 
left tied up in the salt-meadows to starve and to be tortured to death by 
musquitoes. An Englishman by the name of Hine discovered him, and 
set him at liberty. This act was ever afterwards treated with marked con- 
sideration by the Mohawks. 

The Fairfield Indians appear to have rendered some assistance on this 
occasion. " It happened one day that six of the Mohawk tribe being hotly 
pressed by the Fairfield Indians, were secreted by one of the Wacklins 
(Wakelys) of Stratfield under some sheaves of flax, and being directed 
homewards, were the occasion of the long amnesty that subsisted between 
that tribe & the English." No doubt this kindness of Hine and that of 
Wakely saved a great deal of future trouble for the planters in this 

*Col. Rec. Conn., i, 140. f Trumbull's Hist, of Conn., i, 161. 



54 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1647 

region from the Mohawks. The perfidious Narragansetts did not fulfill 
any of the promises they had made to the English ; but continued in acts 
of direct treachery and intrigue against them, of which the commissioners 
gave them to understand they had full knowledge. The Dutch and 
Indian war continued. A battle was fought at Horseneck or Stricklands' 
plain. After a long and obstinate resistance, the Dutch were victorious, 
and the Indians put to flight. Many were slain on both sides, and their 
dead buried in heaps, and covered with earth, giving their graves the 
appearance of small hills. 

At the court of election held in Hartford in May, Ludlow was again 
elected one of the magistrates, and Charles Taintor and Edmund Harvey 
deputies from Fairfield. A particular explanation of the tenth fundamen- 
tal article was called for by some of the attendants of this court, it never 
having been fully understood. It had been previously thought that a 
particular court could not be legally held without the presence of the 
governor, or deputy-governor, or some one chosen by the governor as 
moderator, and four magistrates. A more full interpretation of the article 
was entered upon, and it was finally " ordered, sentenced & decreed'' that 
the governor or deputy-governor, with two magistrates, should have power 
to keep a particular court ; and in case the governor or deputy-governor 
could not be present, if three magistrates met, they might choose one of 
themselves as a moderator. A guard of eight complete in their arms 
every Sabbath and lecture day, was at this time ordered to be kept in each 
of the towns at the seaside ; and as the population became more numerous 
it was to be increased. It was enacted that the taxes upon the towns for 
the general support of the colony should be brought in yearly in the 
month of September. Ludlow was appointed to give out warrant for the 
taxes at the seaside. The soldiers in each of the towns were authorized 
to make choice of their military officers, and present their names to the 
particular court, to be acted upon according to the judgment of the 
court. 

Owing to many abuses, committed from the frequent use of tobacco, it 
was ordered that no person under the age of twenty years, nor any one 
not yet accustomed to its use, should take take the weed until he had 
obtained, " a certificate under the hand of some who are approved, for 
knowledge & skill in phisicke, that it is useful for him, & that he has 
received a licence from the Court for the same : " — " and for the regulating 
of those who had already made it necessary for their use," it was ordered : 
" that no man in the colony after the publication hereof, shall take any 
tobaco publicquely in the street, nor the field or woods, unless when 



1648] DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT 55 

travelling at least ten miles, or at the ordinary time of repast, com- 
monly called dinner ; or if it be not then taken, yet not above once in the 
day at most, & then not in company with any other. Nor shall any 
inhabitant in any of the towns, within this jurisdiction take tobacco, in 
any house in the same town where he liveth, with or in the company 
of any more than one who useth & drinketh the same weed with him 
at that time, under a penalty of six pence for each offence against 
this order, in any of the plantations thereof." The constables were 
appointed to present the names of such as transgressed this act to the 
particular court. 

To prevent the abuse of wine and strong water, it was ordered : " That 
no inhabitant in any town should continue in a tavern or victualing 
house in the town in which he lived more than half an hour at a time, 
drinking wine, beer, or hot water." Neither should any one sell wine or 
any drink " above the proportion of three to a pint of sack ; " nor should 
wine be sold " to a private resident or to those who come for it," unless by 
a note signed by "some one Mr. of a family, & he an allozved inhabitant 
of the town." Neither were hotel keepers permitted to sell or draw hot 
water to any but in case of necessity, under the censure of the court in 
any one of the above cases. 

At the next particular court held on the 3d of June, Thomas Newton, 
of Fairfield, was fined £^ " for his misdemeanor in the vessel called the 
Virginia, (in which he was probably captain) in giving Philip White, wine 
when he had too much before." It was also resolved, that Ludlow, having 
perfected a body of laws, not only the man hired to labor for him should 
be paid by the court, but that Ludlow himself should "be further con- 
sidered for his services." 

Arrangements were entered upon to engage any one disposed to un- 
dertake the whaling business for the term of seven years. Black Rock 
afterwards became for many years a noted whaling ship port. Although 
the Narragansetts and Nehantic Indians still continued in an alarming 
attitude, the commissioners at a special meeting in July obtained a con- 
tinued promise of peace. At the court of election in May, Ludlow was 
for the third time chosen deputy-governor of the colony. Andrew Ward 
and Charles Taintor were elected deputies from Fairfield. Salaries of ;^30 
annually were directed to be paid to the governor and deputy-governor, 
as a compensation for their ofificial expenses. At the sitting of the Gen- 
eral Court on the i8th of May, Ludlow and the Fairfield deputies, not 
wholly satisfied with the movement of the three first Maxumux farmers, 
who it appears had purchased the Maxumux lands of the Indians on their 



56 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1648 

own responsibility, brought the affair before the court, which resulted in 
the following resolution : 

" W/ureas, There are certain farms to be set forth upon the borders within the limits 
of Fairfield, It is ordered there shall be no further proceeding in taking up any ground 
there about, until it be viewed by some that shall be appointed by such as shall keep the 
next Court at Fairfield." 

An important movement had taken place among the planters at Fair- 
field. The fine meadows and planting fields of Maxumux had attracted 
their attention, and some of them had contemplated a settlement there. 
At a particular court held at Fairfield on the loth of October, the 
Bankside farmers were allowed to proceed in their undertaking. Among 
the early documents preserved in the state capitol at Hartford, is the 
following, dated 1648: 

" hnprimis. It is agreed that Thomas Newton Henry Gray & John Green, shall 
have liberty to sit down & inhabit at Machamux ; & shall have for each of them laid 
out as in propriety to themselves & their heirs forever, twenty acres in upland, to be 
indifferently laid out by the appointment of said town, in a convenient place, where it may 
not be too obnoxious to the depasturing & feeding of the cattle of the said town. And 
that if they improve the said land, to make a sufficient mound or fence, or mounds & 
fences, to secure their said town & land from the trespass of the cattle of the inhabitants 
of said town. And their said fence shall be viewed by the said town, or their deputies, 
whether sufficient or no, & shall be therein subject to such orders as the town shall 
make about other farms of the town. 

" Item. That there shall be sufficient passage & way or ways for the cattle of said 
Fairfield to pass to the sea shore ; & all the way to feed & depasture to & again in 
those parts ; & that neither the inhabitants of the said town nor their cattle may be 
prevented that way. 

" Item. That there may be a convenient quantity of meadow laid out by the inhabit- 
ants of said town, or their deputies, to the parties above said, for their comfortable sub- 
sistence in that place. And that the parties above said shall only keep their own sheep in & 
upon their said land, & commons adjoining, & not take cattle to foragement and de- 
pasture in the commons of the said town. 

" Item. That the aforesaid parties & their heirs be subject to all taxes & rates of the 
said town wherein they have a common benefit, together with said town, & are subject 
to the officers of said town, save only in watching & warding. 

" Item. That there may be liberty to said parties to take in two more inhabitants by 
full consent & approbation of the town of Fairfield ; & that they be approved as 
aforesaid, there may be like quantity of upland & meadow set out to them by the 
town upon the terms aforesaid. 

"Item. It is agreed that if the said town & the parties are not agreed between 
themselves about the upland & meadow, then the court to be indifferent judges." * 

* It was to this deed that William Hill attached his written testimony of Roger Ludlow leav- 
ing the town records in his hands. — State Archives, No. 52, Vol. I., Town and Lands. 



1648] DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT 57 

The two parties chosen to join this enterprise were Daniel Frost, of 
Fairfield, and Francis Andrews, of Hartford. This land, which was pur- 
chased from the Maxumux Indians, stretched from a white oak tree near 
Frost point, one En^^lish mile along the sea coast towards Compaw, and 
six or seven miles inland. The Maxumux Indians lived on an elevated 
bank east of this strip of land overlooking a grand expanse of water, Long 
Island in the distance, and a charming view of meadows and fine rolling 
hills on the west, north and north-west. A few years after they removed 
from their sea-side planting field to Clapboard hill, which was set apart 
as a reservation for them. 

Each of these five farmers were granted ten-acre home-lots. Daniel 
Frost's home-lot lay on the point, and was *' bounded on the north & west 
with the highway, on the east with the land of the Old Indian field ; & 
on the south with the sea beach." Henry Gray's home-lot was next west 
of Daniel Frost's. Thomas Newton's lay west of Henry Gray's. John 
Green's and Francis Andrew's lay west of Thomas Newton's. The name 
of Maxumux gave place to that of Bankside, and the planters were for 
several years called "The Five Bankside Farmers" and "The West 
Farmers." John Green became so prosperous a land-holder, that the 
name of Green's Farms was applied to the vicinity west and north-west 
of Bankside as early as 1699.* Near the west limits of this purchase, was 
an island of about one hundred acres, first named Farmer's island, and the 
Great island, then Fox island, and in time, falling into the possession of the 
Sherwood family, it came to be called Sherwood's island. West of this 
island lay another of about ten acres which has always been known as the 
little island. East of Sherwood's island, standing well out in the Sound, 
was still another small island, which has entirely been washed away by the 
action of the waves and storms of more than two centuries.f At the sitting 
of the General Court in May, Ludlow offered a motion that Moses Wheeler 
should be made a ferryman across the Housatonic at Stratford, which was 
also referred to the next court at Fairfield, " both in behalf of the country 
& the town of Stratford." :{: 

On the 2d of February Henry Jackson was given liberty from the town 
to erect a grist mill on Uncoway creek.§ A severe law was enacted to 

* Letter A of Town Deeds, p. 262. 

f Testimony of Captain Franklin Sherwood of Sherwood's island, and Captain Ephraim Burr 
of Fairfield. 

JCol. Rec. Conn., 163. 

§ B, Town Votes, 1648. This will appear to have been erected near the mouth of the stream, 
or creek, which empties into the west side of the Uncoway river near Black-rock bridge. The 



58 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1648 

prevent the Dutch from selling arms or ammunition to the Indians, under 
which any of them found guilty of this offense, not subject to the laws of 
the colony, " should be shipped for England & sent to Parliament." In 
July every soldier belonging to the train-bands was granted half a pound 
of powder a year, to be used on training days, which was to be provided 
by the masters and governers of each family in which said soldiers belonged, 
to be called for and used at the discretion of the captains or principal offi- 
cers of the train-bands. 

At this time Connecticut seemed nearly overpowered, not only by the 
claims of Massachusetts, but by those of the renowned Peter Stuyvesant, 
who claimed that all the territories, rivers, streams and islands from Cape 
Henlopen to Cape Cod, and all the lands and plantations in the united 
colonies, belonged to the Dutch under an ancient grant to the Dutch, 
and afterwards purchased by them of the Indians. They also demanded a 
ship which he had ordered to be seized in the Harbor of New Haven. 
The hostile attitude of the Dutch and the murder by the Indians of one 
John Whitmore, a highly respectable resident of Stamford, as well as the 
murder of several Englishmen who were part of a crew belonging to a 
vessel which had been cast away near Long Island, filled the minds of 
the inhabitants of Fairfield, Stamford, and others along the coast, with 
the greatest anxiety for their own safety. 

At the meeting of the commissioners on the seventh of September 
at Plymouth, Governor Hopkins and Ludlow, represented Connecticut. 
John Endicot and Simon Bradstreet were present from Massachusetts, 
William Bradford and John Brown from Plymouth, and Governor Eaton 
and John Astwood from New Haven. This was a gathering of some of 
the most noted and sterling characters of New England, men whose faces 
were care-worn with anxiety of mind, furrowed and weather-beaten with 
fatigue consequent upon their frequent long journeys by sea, or through 
the almost trackless wilderness of New England. 

Soon after, Uncas, with several of his men, was sent to Stamford to 
discover the murderers of Mr. Whitmore.* The passage through Fair- 
field of so great a chief must have created considerable excitement and 
curiosity on the part of the planters as well as of the natives, Uncas 
having questioned the principal Indians of Stamford, discovered that the 

hill which rises on the north-west of this stream has always been called the " Old Mill-hill," or 
the " Old Mill-lot." From the mill the river was forded towards Pequonnock, until within the 
early part of the nineteenth century, when the Black-rock bridge was built. — Testimony of Mr. 
Stephen Morehouse. 

* Trumbull's Hist. Conn., p. 181. 



1649] DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT 59 

son of one of the sachems, and another Indian " fell a trembling," and 
were believed to be the conspirators in the murder ; but before they 
could be seized they both made good their escape. The other Indians, 
either through fear of their sachem or out of attachment to his son, 
could not be induced to testify against them. Thomas Newton, who 
had been one of the most enterprising planters in Fairfield, at this time 
fell into trouble with the authorities of the town and colony ; and to 
escape the severity of the law for the charge brought against him — which 
Savage says was probably witchcraft — he escaped from prison and filed to 
the Dutch for protection. A large reward was offered to secure his 
return ; but he was protected by the Dutch governor, who believed him 
innocent, and who afterwards made him one of his military captains. 
He became one of the most prominent men of Newtown, Long Island. 
Several planters at Fairfield were fined twenty shillings at the time of his 
escape; and Thomas Staples was fined forty shillings, which leads to the 
suspicion that his friends believed him innocent.* 

The Narragansetts and the Nchantics, still intent upon their treacherous 
course toward the English, had not fulfilled their promises ; but on the 
contrary had hired the Mohawks and the Pocomtock Indians to unite 
with them in totally destroying Uncas and the Mohegans. The fear of 
an Indian war was as great at this time as when the Pequots threatened 
the extermination of the whites. Thomas Stanton was timely dispatched 
to confer with them. Upon his arrival he found the Pocomtocks assem- 
bled and awaiting the Mohawks, but upon his informing them that the 
English were resolved to defend Uncas at all costs, they abandoned their 
project and returned home. The Narragansetts and the Nehantics thus 
finding themselves deserted, gave up their design, 

Ludlow was this year chosen one of the magistrates of the General 
Court, and George Hull and Andrew Ward deputies from Fairfield. To 
the application made in May of the previous year by Ludlow and the 
Fairfield deputies that Maxumux or Bankside should be set forth upon 
the borders or within the limits of Fairfield, the General Court appointed 
Daniel Titterton and John Hurd of Stratford to survey and view the said 
land, "& consider thereupon how convenient it is for them & inconvenient 
for this commonwealth to have the said premises settled upon the town 
of sd, Fairfield, & make return thereof to the next General Court." Twenty 
pounds required and paid by Fairfield and Stratford, was declared in full 
of all accounts for their proportion of the public rates. Ludlow was 

*Col. Rec. Conn., i, 174. Rev. B. F. Reylea's Hist. Disc, on the I50lh anniversary of the 
church in Green's Farms, p. 11. 



6o HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1649 

appointed to levy the taxes at the seasons agreed upon by the people of 
Stratford " both for what is lacking & also for the future," toward the 
maintainance of their pastor, the Rev. Adam Blackman. 

It was ordered that the fort and buildings at Saybrook, which had 
been purchased by the General Court of Connecticut of Mr. Fenwick in 
1648, and destroyed by fire soon after, should be rebuilt at a point called 
New Fort-hill at the charge of the commonwealth. At a particular 
court held in Hartford on the 7th of June, Mr. John Webster of Hartford 
was appointed to assist Ludlow in holding a particular court, at Stratford 
"next Thursday come fortnight " for the execution of justice. On the 
22d of July a special meeting of the commissioners was held at Boston, at 
which time it was resolved that the sachem of Stamford, whose son 
was supposed to have murdered Mr. Whitmore should be seized and 
imprisoned until the murderer was given up to justice ; the murderers of 
the Long Island seamen and planters were likewise demanded. But a 
short time before the meeting of the comm.issioners, a bold attempt had 
been made upon the life of Uncas, by an Indian hired by the Narragan- 
setts and Nehantics to assassinate him. The wounds he received were at 
first thought to be mortal, but he soon recovered, and appearing before the 
commissioners at this time, eloquently set forth his long and valuable 
services in the defense of the English and their rights ; and urged as a 
return of his faithfulness, that they should provide for his safety and 
avenge his cause. A rumor was in circulation that a daughter of Nini- 
grate was about to marry a brother or son of Sassacus. This gave ground 
to fear that a plot was now on foot by the Narragansetts and Nehantics 
to collect the scattered Pequots and to return them to their own country 
as a separate nation. The commissioners, regarding an Indian war 
inevitable, gave orders that all the colonies should forthwith be made 
ready for such an emergency.* 

At this time the Massachusetts commissioners objected to any decision 

* The Pequots given to Uncas had revolted from him, on account of the severity of his treat- 
ment, whicli was proved to be true. He was reproved by the commissioners, and fined a hundred 
fathom of wampum. Having resolved that the Pequots should never again become a distinct 
tribe, Uncas was required to receive them under his protection and to treat them kindly. This, 
however, the Pequots refused, and yearly sent in their petition to the commissioners to be 
allowed to settle by themselves under the control of the English. They pleaded that Wequash 
had said, if they departed from their country and were kind to the English, they would be treated 
well by them. Upon due consideration it was recommended that Connecticut should allow them 
a suitable amount of land for them to dwell apart from the Mohegans. In the mean time they were 
advised to return to Uncas, who was counseled to govern them without revenge and with kindness. 
—Trumbull's Hist. Conn., i, 1S6, 187. 



J 



1649] DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT 61 

of the Other commissioners in regard to the Connecticut boundary line and 
the purchase of the fort at Saybrook until Connecticut exhibited her 
patent, and proved priority oi possession before the date of John Winthrop's 
arrival at Saybrook. To their arbitrary pleadings Governor Hopkins and 
Ludlow responded, reminding them that the situation of Connecticut 
in 1638 was a very different one from that of the present time. They 
disclaimed all right of priority on the part of Massachusetts, on the 
ground that having departed from that jurisdiction upon their own deter- 
mination, and withdrawn without any form of government, they had not 
considered themselves within the boundaries of their patent ; but, on the 
contrary, within the limits of the Connecticut patent of Viscount Say and 
Seal, Lord Brook and their associates, and therefore involved in their 
interest. In regard to the Connecticut patent, they showed that a copy 
of it had been exhibited at the time of the confederation, " which had 
been well known to many," and that it had recently been acknowledged 
by the honorable committee of Parliament ; and that all included within 
its limits had been given equal privileges and power, as all others under 
the patents of Massachusetts and Plymouth. In reference to any breach 
of brotherly love between the colonies, they claimed that love was ever to 
be based upon truth and peace ; and " that in all the proceedings of the 
confederation, it was their desire that truth & peace might embrace each 
other ; " and " that all things which were rational & consistent with truth 
& righteousness should never be an occasion of offence to any." 

Governor Haynes laid a copy of the Connecticut patent before the 
commissioners, and the governor offered to prove its validity upon oath.* 
They acknowledged that they had not the original Connecticut patent, but 
a copy of it, to the truth of which Governor Hopkins was willing to give 
oath.f At a particular court, held the 13th of September, at Hartford, 
when acting upon the vote of the commissioners, it was decided to make 
war upon the Stamford Indians, in order to induce them to deliver up the 
murderers of Mr. Whitmore. Mr. Ludlow and Mr. Tallcot, of Hartford, 
were appointed "to ride over to New Haven the next day to confer with 

* Trumbull's Hist. Conn., i, 189. Referring to the removal of the Connecticut planters from 
Massachusetts, Johnson, in his Wonderworking Providence, says: "With whom went the grave & 
reverend servants of Christ, Mr. Hooker & Mr. Stone, for indeed the whole Church removed, as 
also the most honored Mr. Haynes & divers other men of note, for the place being out of the 
Massachusetts patent, they erected another government called by the Indians Connectico, being 
further encouraged by two honorable personages, the Lord Say & the Lord Brook, who built a 
fortress at the mouth of the river, & called it Saybrook Fortress." 

•)■ A copy of this patent was found by Governor Winthrop among the official papers of Governor 
Hopkins after his death. — Conn. Col. Rec, vol. I., p. 569. 



62 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1649 

Governor Eaton & the other magistrates of that colony, about this 
matter, & to return as speedily as possible." 

On the 1 8th of September Ludlow was appointed by the General 
Court of Connecticut to prepare the soldiers of Fairfield and Stratford 
with provisions and all other necessaries for the design upon the Stamford 
Indians, George Hull, of Fairfield, and William Beardsley, of Stratford, 
were chosen to assist him. This movement so alarmed and intimidated 
the Stamford Indians, that they proved peaceable ever afterwards; but it 
does not appear that the murderers were given up to justice. 

A form of church discipline, entitled the Cambridge platform, having 
been agreed upon at Boston on the 17th of October by the ministers 
throughout New England, it was adopted by the General Court and all the 
churches of Connecticut soon after. This platform, with the ecclesiastical 
laws of the colonies, formed the religious constitution of the Established 
Church of New England for about sixty years, or until the Saybrook plat- 
form was agreed upon. 

Within the past two years affairs of grave importance had taken place 
in England. Cromwell, who had become " entire master of Parliament 
& of the king, attempted to quell the disorders he himself had so artfully 
raised." He called a secret council of the chief officers of the army, with 
a view of debating the best mode of governing the nation, and of dis- 
posing of the king's person. Charles had offered to resign to Parliament 
" the power of the army & the nomination of all the principal officers, 
provided at his death these prerogatives should revert to the crown." 
(December 24, 1647.) The Independents, however, who had the Parlia- 
ment in control, coerced them into sending four proposals to the king of 
such a character as left him only the power to reject them. On the 3d 
of January, 1648, Parliament voted " that no more addresses should be 
sent to the king, nor any letters or messages received from him ; & that 
it should be treason for any one, without leave of the two houses to hold 
any intercourse with him." From this time Charles I. was in reality 
dethroned, and the- constitution formally overthrown. The king was 
placed in close confinement ; cut off from his friends, correspondents, 
and even deprived of his servants. The Scotch in vain protested against 
the course pursued by Cromwell and the Independents. In all parts of the 
kingdom tumults, insurrections, and conspiracies prevailed, which Crom- 
well's army soon subdued. In vain Prince Charles in July (1648) with 
offers of ships from the English navy, made every effort in Holland and 
at home to restore his father to the throne. Step by step the unhappy 
king was stripped of all temporal power, and upon his head was visited 



1649] DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT 63 

the sins of those who had resolved upon his death. The council of general 
officers in November voted that the king should be " proceeded against 
in the way of justice." Foremost among these was General Edmund 
Ludlow, a cousin of Roger Ludlow. Cromwell took possession of the Par- 
liament and established the Rump, as it was called. The king was accused 
of treason, and a High Court of Justice appointed to try him. He was 
brought before this tribunal, and impeached " as a tyrant, traitor, mur- 
derer, & a public and implacable enemy of the commonwealth." The 
unhappy king sustained the majesty and dignity of his position. " He 
never forgot his part either as a prince or a man." On Saturday, the 27th 
of January, 1649, judgment was pronounced upon him. Only two days 
were allowed between his rentence and execution. On the afternoon of 
January 30 he was led to the block. As the executioner severed his head 
from his body, " a deep groan burst from the multitude." His son. Prince 
Charles, was proclaimed his successor on the nth of February following; 
but to all intents Cromwell was the ruling spirit of this unhappy period. 

The death of Charles L was received by all the American colonies, 
except those of New England, with deep sorrow ; with the latter it 
was looked upon as the overthrow of English church and state, and the es-. 
tablishment of a new government based upon republican principles, and 
the establishment of the tenets of the Independents. They, however, did 
not enjoy their full anticipation of peace, either civil or religious. " The 
rights of freemen'' became the one all-absorbing topic of the day, and 
dissatisfaction and gloom followed quickly upon the news of the unsettled 
state of affairs in the mother country. 



CHAPTER II 

1650-1660 

WARS AND RUMORS OF WARS 

Original plats of Fairfield and Pequonnock. — Planters and heads of families. — Assistant and 
deputies of 1650. — General laws. — Election sermons. — Ludlow a commissioner. — Witchcraft. — 
Trial and execution of Goodwife Knap. — War between England and Holland — Trouble with 
Indians. — Dutch vessel seized. — Supposed plot of the Dutch and Indians. — Fears of a general 
massacre. — Preparations for war. — England sends arms and ammunition. — Ludlow chief mili- 
tary officer. — Pirates. — Commissioners at Boston. — Agents sent to England for assistance. — 
Preparations at New Amsterdam. — Severity of colonial laws. — Invitation to Charles II. to come 
to America. — Oliver Cromwell Lord Protector of England. — John Underbill. — Two Dutch war 
vessels enter Black Rock harbor. — Death of Governor Haynes. — A Fast. — Fairfield declares v^ar 
against the Dutch. — Ludlow leaves the country. — His detention by New Haven.— Sails for 
Virginia. — English fleet arrive at Boston. — Peace proclaimed between England and Holland. 
— War declared against the Indians. — Six men to join the army from Fairfield. — General 
training day. — List of estates. — General Thanksgiving. — Major Willard's course. — Pequots 
awarded land. — Care of arms and ammunition. — Trouble with the Indians. — Pits for wolves. 
— Military laws for Indians. — Games. — Lotteries. — Town limits extended. — Efforts to pacify 
Indians. — General Fast. — Great mortality. — Probate Judges. — Colony tax. — Custom-house 
duties. — Temperance laws. — Commissioners. — Law for magistrates. — Thanksgiving. 

Having traced the principal events of the first decade of the settle- 
ment of Fairfield, the opening of the year 1650 introduces us to the early 
land records of the town. Whatever of value was contained in the first 
thirteen pages of " Letter A of Town Deeds " has been lost ; but the 
following pages afford clues of the original plats of Fairfield and Pequon- 
nock, which the diagrams represent between 1648 and 1654, with the 
names of the settlers who occupied them during the period. 

The movement of the Bankside farmers resulted in the sale of their 
home-lots in Fairfield. This is recorded on the thirteenth page of Letter 
A of Town Deeds, where we learn that John Banks, who had previously 
lived east of Hide's pond, and sold his house and home-lot to Humphrey 
Hide, on the 12th of May, 1650, purchased Daniel Frost's house and home- 
lot, consisting of three and three-fourths acres. On the 4th of March, 1650, 
Simon Hoyt, of Stamford, who had been granted a home-lot west of 
Hide's Pond, between John Thompson's and George Goodwin's, purchased 
John Green's house and home-lot. The sale of Thomas Newton's, on the 
Ludlow and Newton squares, are not recorded until 1653, at which time 



r65o] 



WARS AND RUMORS OF WARS 



65 





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THE FAIRFIELD PLAT BETWEEN IO48 AND IO37 



they were sold by Alexander Bryan, a lawyer and real estate agent, of 
Milford. The same year the one on the Ludlow square was purchased of 
Bryan by Andrew Ward (who had previously purchased John Thompson's 
home-lot, west of Hide's Pond), while his JDlace on the Newton square was 
occupied by Nathan Gold, who removed from Milford in 1649, and first 
occupied John Foster's lot in the Frost square. Gold's purchase of this 
place was not recorded until the 5th of December 1653, he having previ- 
ously sold it to Thomas Sherwood. Soon after purchasingThomas Newton's 
lot, Nathan Gold purchased the lot next above it first granted to Richard 
Perry in 1649, and he sold the Newton lot to Dr. Thomas Pell. Henry 
Gray left the Frost homestead, the use of which, by William Frost's will, 
was given to him and his wife during their lives, and entailed to their son, 
Jacob Gray, and he also became one of the Bankside farmers. 

The house and home-lot of John Gray, who appears to have settled at 
Newtown, Long' Island, was purchased by Bryan and sold on the i8th of 
March. 1649, to Henry Rowland. Richard Westcoat, who had owned the 
house and home-lot between John Gray's and John Nichol's, died soon 
after he settled at Fairfield. His widow married Nathaniel Baldwin, of 
5 



66 



HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD 



[1650 




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PASTURE. j 

THE PEQUONNOCK PLAT. 

Milford. Baldwin removed to Fairfield, and by virtue of this marriage 
occupied the dwelling and lands of Westcoat. The v/idow of William 
Hill, sr., whose husband had first been granted a home-lot on the north- 
east side of Dorchester street, is recorded in 1649 ^^ living on the north- 
west corner of Newton square." It was not an unusual thing for the 
planters to receive grants of home-lots, and also hold others purchased or 
exchanged. 

The Purely lot was sold to Moses Dimond May 2, 1670, at which time John Purdy, son 
of Francis Purdy, deceased, lived at Eastchester. The Frost lot was owned by Jacob 
Gray until 1886, when it was purchased by the Rev. Samuel Wakeman for his son Samuel, 
and deeded to him the 6th of November of that year. 

Henry Whelpley sold his lot to Alexander Bryan, who resold it to Alexander Knowles 
17th January, 1653. February 9, 1653, Dr. Thomas Pell purchased Nathan Gold's house 
and home-lot next the parsonage land. December 8, 1653, Nathan Gold purchased Richard 
Perry's home-lot, which was afterwards sold to Dr. William Ward. The Lewis lot was 
i^ranted by the town to William Hill, sr., February 13, 1670. Jehu Burr, jr.'s, land is not 
recorded until 1670. After his father's death he purchased of his brother, John Burr, the 
home-lot on the west, next to Obediah Gilbert's, and John Burr purchased the Pinkney lot 

* The author was under the impression that the Probate and Town Records of Fairfield, as 
many writers have hitherto stated, were carried away by Roger Ludlow, and destroyed when Gen- 
eral Tryon sacked and burned the town in 1779. Both these statements are without foundation. 
The vaults of the town-house contain many volumes and files of rich historic lore, dating from 1648 
to the present time. 



1650] WARS AND RUMORS OF WARS 6/ 

opposite John Gray's. The Hoyt lot was sold to Andrew Ward, then to Edward Adams, 
next to William Hayden, and in 1666 to Francis Bradly. 

The Pequonnock plat represents occupants, as follows. January 21, 1649, Epliraim 
Wheeler granted from the town one home-lot, consisting of three acres, more or less, 
bounded north-west with the high-way, north-east with land of Thomas Wheeler, jr., 
south-east with the land of James Bennet, and south-west with the highway. In January, 
1649, j3-mes Bennet granted from the town a home-lot, consisting of 2^ acres, more 
or less, bounded north-west with the land of Ephraim Wheeler, north-east with the 
land of Thomas Wheeler, jr., south-east with the land of Thomas Wheeler, sr. In Janu- 
ary, 1649, Thomas Wheeler, jr., granted from the town one home-lot, 2A acres, more or 
less, bounded north-east with Thomas Wheeler, jr., north-west with the land of James 
Bennet, south-east with the land of John Evarts, and south-west with the highway. 
January 8, 1649, Joseph Middlebrook granted from the town one home-lot, consisting of 
2i acres, more or less, bounded north-west with the land of John Evarts, north-east with 
Benjamin Turney and George Starkey, south-east with Peter Johnson, and south-west with 
the highway. December 3, 1653. Formerly granted to Richard Roots one home-lot, 2i 
acres, bounded south-west with Henry Jackson, south-east with Robert Turney, north- 
east with William Odell, north-west with the highway. 

Richard Roots died before 1653. Michael Fry married his widow, and 
settled upon his home-lot. Henry Jackson purchased Thomas Wheeler, 
jr.'s, home-lot, who at or before 1653 had built a house at Greenlea. 
George Starkey was probably the same person who died in London in 
September, 1665, where he practiced medicine during the terrible plague 
which prevailed in that city. 

Among the other early Pequonnock settlers was Samuel Gregory, who 
lived near the foot of Golden-hill, near the street which crosses the hill to 
Stratford. A few rods east of the military park were some three acres of 
peat swamp land, which was used as fuel. A stone quarry lay but a few 
rods north-east of this peat land ; and about a mile to the north was still 
another quarry. West of the military green was the first burial ground of 
Pequonnock ; but it does not appear that it was used for this purpose 
until some years after the settlement, when by a vote of the town the 
Pequonnock planters were granted a burial place. In addition to the 
above mentioned names the following list gives the heads of other families 
living in Fairfield between 1639 and 1650: 

John Cable. George Hull. John Tompkins. 

John Chapman. Cornelius Hull. .John Thompson. 

James Beers. Stephen Hedge. Charles Tainter. 

Widow Rachel Brundish. Timothy Hoard. Mrs. Jane Stalion (Sterling). 

Thomas Demond, or Dimond. Richard Knowles. Thomas Sherwington. 

Thomas Dickerson. Richard Lyon. Robert Wolly. 

Thomas Dunn. Robert Lockwood. Antony Wilson. 

Samuel Drake. Thomas Mayocke. John Whitlock. 

George Goodwin. Nehemiah Olmstead. 



68 



HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD 



[1650 



There were probably others, but those only have been given which 
could be obtained with certainty. The list of land-holders between 1650 
and 1700 who did not share in the land dividends of the town, were as 
follows : 



Thomas Disborow. 

Jbhn Down. 

Moses Demont, or Dimoncl. 

Jonathan Fanton. 

Luke Guire, or Weire. 

Christopher Godfree. 

Philip Galpin. 

William Hayden. 

John Herdman. 

Thomas Hurlburt. 

Esborn Wakeman. 

Elnathan Handford. 

Joseph James. 

Samuel Judson. 

Henry Lyon. 

Walter Lancaster. 

Robert Lord. 

Lewis Phillips. 

John Mills. 

Thomas Merwin. 

Peter Mayoke. 

John Mahew. 



Samuel Allin. 

Gideon Alien. 

John Allyn. 

Thomas Baxter. 

Robert Bisbum. 

Thomas Bedient. 

John Beardsley. 

Thomas Barnum. 

Richard Burgis. 

Joseph Bastard, or Barstow. 

John Crow. 

William Cross, 

Robert Churchill. 

Henry Castle. 

John Crump. 

John Campbell. 

Henry Crane. 

John Edwards. 

John Eggleston. 

Albert Dennie. 

John Davis. 

Elias Doughty. 

John Darling. 

The soldiers engaged in the Pequot war of 1637 and 1638, who settled 
at Fairfield, were : 

Roger Ludlow. William Hayden. Thomas Basset. 

Dr. Thomas Pell. * Thomas Lyon, f John Wood. 

James Eggleston. Samuel Gregory. Richard Osborn. 

Nehemiah Omstead. 

* Dr. Thomas Pell was the surgeon from the fort at Saybrook, who accompanied the first expedi- 
tion against the Pequot forts on the Thames and the Mystic rivers. He afterwards purchased the 
estate at Westchester, which had belonged to the unfortunate Mrs. Anne Hutchinson, and which 
was named Pellham — ham signifying home or house. Thirty years later Jacob Leisler, acting 
Governor of New York, purchased New Rochelle of Dr. Pell. He was "formerly Gentleman of 
the Bedchamber to Charles I." He married the widow of Francis Brewster, of New Haven, 
before he settled at Fairfield. He is described as having been a rank royalist. His land at Fair- 
field was willed to his nephew, John Pell, of London, son of the Rev. Dr. John Pell of that city, 
who came to this country, and was, by a record in the Fairfield probate office, acknowledged a 
lawful heir ; but he does not appear to have settled in the town. — Mrs. Martha J. Lamb's Hist. 
New York, I., 171. Savage's Genealogical Dictionary. Fairfield Probate Records. 

f There were possibly others, but as there exists no regular list of the Pequot soldiers, it is diffi- 
cult to obtain their names. 



Dongal Mac Kensey. 

Antony Nouguier. 

Nehemiah Omstead. 

John Plastead. 

John Piatt. 

John Palmer. 

Joseph Phippen. 

Samuel Robinson. 

John Read. 

Elisha Risden. 

John Ufford. 

John Sorserer. 

Samuel Summers. 

Samuel Smedley. 

Samuel Sherman. 

John Thorp. 

John Winters. 

Thomas Williams. 

Nathaniel White. 

Richard Vowles, or Fowles. 

Philip Vicars. 

Thomas Yeow. 



1650] WARS AND RUMORS OF WARS 69 

The dividend land-holders will be given in the years in which the 
dividends were made. All persons who had been made freemen, and con- 
tributed towards the purchase of Indian lands, were allowed to be dividend 
holders. The purchase of a large tract of land did not result in its full 
division at any one time ; but as many acres wxre staked out from time to 
time, as the planters found themselves capable of improving. These divi- 
dends were made by lotteries, each head of a family, his wife and children 
drawing as many acres, half acres, quarter acres and roods, as fell to his or 
their proportion, at their town and county rates. 

At the general court of election in May, Ludlow was chosen one of 
the magistrates of the colony, and George Hull and Thomas Sherwood 
deputies.* A grant was made of "6s. 8d. to the common soldiers, & 
lOs. a piece to the sergeants for the loss of time they sustained in their 
late expedition against the Indians." Foreigners were forbidden to retail 
goods in the jurisdiction of Connecticut for the space of one year, and the 
planters were ordered not to purchase their goods during that time. This 
was no doubt intended to affect the thrift of the Dutch commerce, as well 
as to prevent the sale from the French and Dutch of arms and ammuni- 
tion to the Indians. The petition of the Bankside farmers was also taken 
into consideration, and the following grant awarded them: 

"This Court, considering the return of Daniel Titterton & John Hurd, al)out a par- 
cel of land lying near the town of Fairfield, according to their order from the General 
Court of Election, in May 1649, '^'^ grant unto the said town of Fairfield the said parcell 
of land to Saugatuck river: provided the said Saugatuck doe not extend two miles from 
the bounds of the said Fairfield." t 

This did not give satisfaction to the Bankside planters, who had 
hoped to extend their claim to the Saugatuck river, which formed the 
east limit of Ludlow's purchase of the Norwalk Indians in 1640, and which 
he afterwards sold to the Norwalk planters. The Bankside farmers claimed 
that the lands east of the Saugatuck had no lawful owners. On the other 
hand the Norwalk planters used the same argument, and in the month of 
June, made an application to the General Court for the rights of a planta- 
tion, and were granted liberty to extend their boundaries to the west 
bounds of Fairfield. The provision made by the court, that the west 
limits of the Bankside lands should not extend more than two miles west 
of the Fairfield bounds, ran short of the Saugatuck river, leaving a valuable 
tract for the Norwalk planters to claim without delay; hence a bone of 
contention arose between the two plantations, which was not settled for 

*Col. Rcc. Conn., I., 207. f Col. Rec. Conn., I., 208. 



•JO HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1651 

several years. They believed themselves secure, however, in the lands 
they had cultivated, which included within their limits not only some of 
the richest farming lands in that region, but Frost point, Farmer's or 
Sherwood's island, Compo point, Turkey, Clapboard, Wakeman and Benja- 
min's hills, commanded some of the finest views on the Sound. 

Thomas Newton, who had given offense to the town authorities, in 
1650 sold out his right in these lands, which in 1657 were purchased by 
Robert Beacham (or Beuchamp) of Norwalk. From time to time they 
were joined by a few other planters, among whom were Giles Smith, 
Simon Couch, Henry Plaistead, Joseph Lockwood, Robert Rumsie, Robert 
Meaker and Thomas Barnum. The Bankside farmers appear to have lived 
in a luxurious maimer for those days. Some of them owned slaves, and 
with the cheap hire of Indian labor, they reaped large and valuable crops. 
The inventories of their estates exhibit an accumulation of handsome 
fortunes. In the month of November the General Court ordered that 
" as Fairfield had not rendered a just & perfect list of the estates of her 
inhabitants, according to the order of the Court, that the sd. town should 
pay twenty nobles as a fine for their neglect & contempt thereof; & that 
they should pay rate for the present year" according to the estates 
they had formerly given. 

It is noticeable that this court was ordered to adjourn to the second 
lecture day in March next " after the sermofi" which shows that a sermon 
was preached by some invited minister at the adjournment, and not, as in 
after years, at the opening of the court. At the assembling of the court 
of election in May, Ludlow was chosen one of the magistrates, and George 
Hull and Andrew Ward deputies. Ludlow was also chosen one of the 
commissioners of the united colonies. 

The fine of John Banks, Edward Adams, Phillip Pinkney, John Hoit 
and George Godding or Goodwin of Fairfield, who had been fined twenty 
shillings apiece for assisting Thomas Newton in escaping from justice to 
the Dutch, was remitted ; but Thomas Staples, who appears to have been 
the leading party in Newton's escape, did not fare as well, his fine of 
forty shillings being remitted to twenty shillings. The commissioners of 
Fairfield and Stratford, who had not previously been called upon to attend 
the yearly meeting of the commissioners of the river towns, were now 
ordered to meet annually with them at Hartford, two days before the 
sitting of the General Court in September, and bring with them a list of the 
persons and the estates of their towns, that they might be examined and per- 
fected before being presented to the General Court. The fine of twenty 
nobles against Fairfield was remitted. Thomas Thornton " afifirmed 



l65i] WARS AND RUMORS OF WARS 7 1 

before the court, that it was reported there had been a hundred beavers 
killed in Fairfield within the past year." It was about this time that the 
communities of Stratford, Fairfield and the neighboring towns were seized 
with the mania of witchcraft. They were thrown into an alarming state 
of excitement when the General Court ordered Governor John Haynes, 
deputy-governor Edward Hopkins, and John Collick to go soon to Strat- 
ford to attend the trial of one Goody Basset, who had been accused of 
being a witch. 

The belief in this singular delusion, which prevailed not only in Eng- 
land but throughout all Europe, had its day in New England. The Bay 
State suffered far more than Connecticut from its unhappy results. The 
second law of the code of capital laws established by the General Court 
of Connecticut December, 1642, required, " If any man or woman be a 
witch (that is) hath or consulted with a familiar spirit, they shall be put 
to death." * To harbor or to converse with a witch, was therefore not only 
a sin, but an offense in the eye of the law. To rid the community of 
persons who were believed to hold conversation with familiar spirits, and 
to be under the direct influence of the devil, was regarded a righteous 
act, according to the law of Moses. To cast out an unclean spirit after 
the example of our Savior, by fasting, prayer and supplication, does not 
appear to have been supposed a possibility. The trial of Goody Basset, 
which took place at Stratford at the appointed time, ended with a sen- 
tence of the court that she should be hanged as a witch. Before her 
execution she was heard to say, "there was another witch in Fairfield 
that held her head full high." 

Shortly after this, a poor, simple-minded woman living in Fairfield, by 
the name of Knap, was suspected of witchcraft. She was tried, con- 
demned and sentenced to be hanged. f The execution took place in Try's 
field, which is described in the will of Henry Jackson of Pequonnock, as 
lying northwest of the Indian field. At the assembling of the General 
Court on the nth of September at Hartford, a grand list of the inhabit- 
ants and estates of the towns in the Connecticut colony was presented. 
The deputies of Fairfield offered a list of names and estates, the sum total 
of which amounted to ;^8,895 35. The previous poll-tax of 2s. 6d. was 
reduced "to 18 pence, to be paid one third in wheat, one third in peas, & 
one third in good wampum or Indian." On the 6th of October, Andrew 
Ward and George Hull of Fairfield, and William Bcardsley of Stratford, 
were propounded for assistants to join with the magistrates for the execu- 

* Ex. 22, 18. Lev. 20, 27. Deut. 18, 10, li. 
•\ New Haven Col. Kec, i, 84-88. 



72 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD " [1652 

tion of justice at the seaside. It was also ordered that Norwalk should 
send one inhabitant to Ludlow, to receive the oath of a constable. 

Fairfield and the English settlements on the Sound were greatly dis- 
turbed at this time by the troubles which existed between England and 
Holland. On the 9th of October, 1651, England framed the famous act 
of navigation, by which all nations were prohibited from importing into 
her ports any goods, except in English vessels or in the vessels of the 
country where the goods were produced. This law seriously affected the 
Dutch shipping interests, as they had largely subsisted upon the income 
derived from being the general carriers and factors of Europe. Hostilities 
at once opened between Holland and England, and extended to the 
colonies in America. The colonies of Connecticut and New Haven, which 
had previously suffered from the Dutch, had reason to be seriously 
alarmed at the course which the Dutch governor of New Netherlands at 
once assumed. Great fears were also entertained of a general uprising of 
the Indians throughout the country.* The third Wednesday in October 
was appointed " as a day of fasting & humiliation concerning the affairs 
of our native country, & the prevalence of a grievous disease among the 
colonists of Massachusetts." 

At the court of election in May, i652j_Ludlow was chosen an assistant, 
and Andrew Ward and William Hill deputies for Fairfield. Ludlow was 
soon after appointed a commissioner of the united colonies for 1653. It 
was ordered at the same time, that the particular courts should be held 
two days, instead of one day before the assembling of the two General 
Courts, in May and September. The case of John Cable and others of 
Fairfield, who had seized a Dutch vessel on the coast, was brought before 
the court. After weighing the matter, the court decided, '* that consider- 
ing the grounds of the seizure of the vessel of Oulsterman at Fairfield, 
& the parties on both sides having submitted themselves to the judgment 
of the Court, they do order, that upon the said Dutchman's paying the 
said seizors the sum of five pounds & all their reasonable costs, his vessel 
& goods should be delivered up to him." At the same time the court 
ordered that the fort at Saybrook should immediately be put in a state 
of defense. Fairfield and Stratford were given authority to elect assistant 
judges, to aid the magistrates of the said plantations in holding a court 
within their jurisdictions for the year ensuing. Ludlow was again chosen 

* A quarrel had existed between Uncas and Sequassen some years previous ; and Uncas 
becoming jealous of favors shown about this time to Sequassen by the English, appeared before 
the commissioners in September and demanded redress for past wrongs. Ludlow was appointed 
to settle the affair between the two chiefs. — Col. Rec. Conn., i, 228. 



r653] WARS AND RUMORS OF WARS 73 

a commissioner of the united colonics. At a session of the General 
Court in October, William Hill of Fairfield was appointed to require of 
the inhabitants of Norvvalk the reason why they had not sent deputies 
to the General Court ; and that the court expected they would forth- 
with make and return to Ludlow a true and perfect list of the persons 
and estates in their town, that a due proportion of all common charges 
should be borne by them with the other towns in the jurisdiction of 
Connecticut. 

One-half of the annual tax from the towns due to the colonial treasury, 
was ordered to be collected, one-third in wheat at f®ur shillings, one-third 
in peas at three shillings, and one-third in Indian corn at two shillings six 
pence per bushel. Of this tax Fairfield bore her share according to her 
rateable list of ^^"8,850 i$s.od.^ 

It appears at this time that there was a scarcity of provisions in some 
of the plantations, in consequence of which a General Court was called in 
the montii of February, and an order passed, that " no person in any of the 
plantations of Connecticut should ship or allow to be conveyed out of the 
colony, beef, pork, bacon, butter, cheese, wheat, rye, peas, Indian corn, 
malt, biscuit, or any other grain, meat, or drink, before the next session of 
the General Court, without a license from an appointed committee, under 
a penalty of double the value of the article thus exported." On account 
of increasing troubles with the Dutch, great alarm prevailed in the New 
England towns on Long Island Sound. The victory of Van Tromp over 
the English (December 9, 1652) had given Governor Stuyvesant courage to 
revive the old claims of the Dutch in Connecticut. All the claims which 
he had renounced to the English by an agreement made with them in 
1650 at Hartford, were renewed, and as by this agreement the east bor- 
ders of the Dutch province extended to the west side of Greenwich bay, 
a distance of about four miles from Stamford, great alarm prevailed at 
Stamford, Fairfield and the English towns east of them, upon a report 
having reached them, that the Dutch governor had entered into a con- 
spiracy with the Indians to massacre the English. 

An extra session of the commissioners was called on the 17th of March 
and 19th of April at Boston. Ludlow was present on both occasions, and 
argued strongly that men and arms should be sent for the protection of 
Fairfield and the adjacent towns on the Sound. Upon investigation it 
was discovered that Ninigret, who had married his daughter to the brother 
of the Pequot chieftain Sassacus, with the hope of recovering the old 
territory of the Pequots, had spent the winter in New Amsterdam with 

* Col. Rec. Conn., i, 236. 



74 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1653 

a view of joining Governor Stuyvesant against the English. " Nine 
Sachems who lived in the vicinity of the Dutch, sent their united testi- 
mony by an agent to Stamford, to the effect that the Dutch governor had 
solicited them to cut off the English, by promising them guns, powder, 
swords, wampum, coats, & waistcoats. ... It was rumored that the 
time of the massacre was fixed upon the day of the public election, when 
the freemen would generally be from home." The state of alarm at Fair- 
field and the neighboring towns was so great that the usual spring plow- 
ing, sowing and planting were neglected.* Watch was kept night and 
day, until men were worn with watching and guarding, and the women 
and children with sleepless nights and anxious days. Great expense was 
occasioned by this constant vigilance. 

Six of the commissioners believed the reports against Stuyvesant ; but 
before they commenced hostilities, it was decided to draw up a general 
declaration of grievances to be sent to him. In the mean time, Stuyve- 
sant sent letters to the united colonies, in which he absolutely denied any 
part in the plot with which he was charged. He offered either to go or 
send to Boston to prove his innocence, or to allow an appointed ambas- 
sador to be sent to the Manhadoes to investigate these charges. Francis 
Newman of New Haven, Captain John Leverett (afterwards governor of 
Massachusetts), and Mr. William Davis, were invested with plenary power 
to investigate the affair, and to receive the proposals of the Dutch gov- 
ernor. The commissioners were requested by the General Court not to 
leave Boston until the messengers returned from the Manhadoes. It 
was also ordered that a speedy messenger be sent for a renewal of the 
commissions from Connecticut and New Haven which had just expired, 
" that so if God call upon a war, there may be no interruption of busi- 
ness." f 

During the absence of the ambassadors to the Dutch, it was decided 
in case of war, that five hundred men should be raised for the first expe- 
dition, and placed under the command of Captain John Leverett. It was 
also agreed that if war should take place, the commissioners should meet 
at New Haven, for the purpose of ordering the military movements of 
the English troops. At a session of the General Court held at Hartford 
on the 14th of April, speedy supplies were ordered to be sent to Captain 
Mason, at the fort at Saybrook ; " & whatever else should be thought 
meet by Mr. Ludlow & Mr. Cullick." It was advised that all the scat- 
tered families of Saybrook should be gathered into the town. It was 

* Trumbull's Hist, of Conn., Vol. I., p. 213. 
t Mass. Col. Rec, Vol. I., p. 311. 



1653] WARS AND RUMORS OF WARS 75 

also ordered that a just proportion of all the military provisions, which 
had been sent from England for the protection of the united colonies, 
should be sent to Connecticut and New Haven for the defense of their 
towns.* 

Fresh testimony of fidelity of the Indians was required, by giving up 
their arms, or they would be looked upon as enemies of the English, and 
that they should not shoot guns or walk in the night, unless to carry mes- 
sages, in which case, they were to go to the watchman, who, if they ran 
away was ordered to shoot them. Ludlow and Captain John Cullock 
were again appointed commissioners for the year ensuing, " & invested 
with full power to agitate such occasions as concern the United Colonies 
for Connecticut, according to their former commissiony Sixty men were 
ordered to be pressed as the quota for Connecticut, to make up the five 
hundred to be prepared for war. Eight of these men were to be taken 
from Fairfield, to be made ready to march at a day's warning. Lieuten- 
ant Cook was made commander-in-chief. The other officers were Lieu- 
tenant Thomas Bull of Hartford, Lieutenant Thomas Wheeler of Fair- 
field, Sergeant Richard Olmstead of Norwalk, and Hugh Wells of Weth- 
ersfield, drummer.f William Hill of Fairfield, was chosen one of a com- 
mittee to provide provisions suitable for a service of two months. The 
messengers sent to treat with Stuyvcsant returned to Boston about the 
last of May, without having effected any satisfactory communications with 
him. Further evidence was brought forward of the preparations the 
Dutch governor was making with the Indians for the extermination of the 
English. A long and unsatisfactory letter was read from Stuyvesant, in 
which he again renewed his claims against the Connecticut and New 
Haven colonies. This letter so exasperated the commissioners that all of 
them, except Mr. Bradstreet of Massachusetts, at once voted for a war 
against the Dutch. Massachusetts had instructed Bradstreet not to give 
his voice for war, but to use every possible endeavor to prevent open hos- 
tilities. In consequence of his opposition, the Bay colony was charged 
with a violation of the articles of union. Many in Massachusetts were 
displeased with the action of the General Court. They argued that if 
they " should neglect to engage in the war, it would be a declaration of 

* The value of the arms and ammunition sent out by England at this time was estimated at 
;^358 lis. M., and valued in the colonies at £^1?) y. 4^. " For these supplies payment was 
to be made by such of the colonies as should receive their proportions, within two months there- 
after, and the amount received was to be appropriated for the use of the Indians, as the Commis- 
sioners of the United Colonies shall from time to time direct." — [Rec. of U. Colonies, May, 1653.] 
Col. Rec. of Conn. 

f Massachusetts ordered 333 ; Plymouth, 60, and New Haven, 42. 



'j6 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1653 

their neutrality in the contest, & might be viewed in that light by the 
parliament, & be of great & general disservice to their interest." * 

A committee of conference from the Plymouth, Connecticut and New 
Haven colonies was chosen, to set before the court of Massachusetts the 
danger of the English settlements, and also to seek the advice of the 
elders of the Bay. Ludlow of Fairfield was one of this committee. A 
committee was also chosen from Massachusetts to meet them. A warm 
debate followed ; but after lengthy protestations on both sides, the vari- 
ous representations made were submitted to the grave judgment of the 
elders of the Bay, who, after weighing the situation carefully, counseled 
" that it would be safest for the colonies to forbear the use of the sword ; 
but advised to be in a posture of defence & readiness for action, until 
the mind of God should be more clearly known, either for a more settled 
peace, or manifest ground of war." This advice, however, did not change 
the views of the commissioners, with the exception of Rradstreet. 

They sent warnings to the General Courts of each colony to prepare 
for war. Connecticut was ordered to raise sixfy-five men, out of which 
number Fairfield was to send eight. Lieutenant Thomas Wheeler, of 
Fairfield, was chosen ensign of the company. Andrew Ward and William 
Hill were made commissaries, and appointed a committee to join with the 
constables of the town in impressing men for the service. The military 
ofificers of Stratford were ordered to await Ludlow's return from Massa- 
chusetts, before choosing other ofificers. f An extra session of the General 
Court of Connecticut was called on the 25th of June, when it was decided 
to press upon Massachusetts the necessity of a war with the Dutch ; and if 
she would not join the other colonies, that she would at least give them 
liberty to accept volunteers from among them to prosecute a war. Gov- 
ernor Haynes and Ludlow were appointed to confer with Governor Eaton, 
of New Haven, upon the subject : "also about a ship to transport troops, 
and to find out what encouragement they should send to the English & 
friendly Indians on Long Island." They found Governor Eaton eager to 
join them " in a just war upon a rebellious people, the measure of whose 
sins were then full." They declared " such a war to be like that of David 
against the children of Ammon, & the late war of England against Scot- 
land.":}: Articles were drawn asking Massachusetts that if she could not 
join them, to agree that the united colonies should meet in New Haven 
to conduct the war. New Haven agreed to join Connecticut in purchasing 

* Trumbull's Hist, of Conn., Vol. I., p. 203. 

f Col. Rec. Conn., I., 243. 

X Col. Rec, New Haven, I., 4-22. 



i653] WARS AND RUMORS OF WARS 77 

a frigate on the Connecticut river, and to fit her with ten (:^uns and other 
necessary supplies, to coast up and down between the mouth of that river 
and Stamford, for the protection of the towns on the Sound. The result 
of these measures was another meeting of the commissioners at Boston on 
the nth of September (Ludlow was present, having been commissioned 
on the nth of August). After a stormy debate, which came near destroy- 
ing the union of the colonies, Massachusetts utterly declined to unite in a 
declaration of war against the Dutch. Connecticut and New Haven were 
therefore left to bear the brunt of their unhappy situation, without the 
assistance which they thought they ought to expect from the Bay state. 
Both colonics held a General Court in October, and agreed to appeal to 
England for redress. They also resolved to purchase, and man with forty 
men, the frigate before mentioned, to cruise up and down the Sound to 
prevent the alarming extent of piracy which existed ; to protect the Con- 
necticut and New Haven towns, and the English settlements belonging to 
those colonies on Long Island; as well as to intercept and prevent Nini- 
grate from forming an alliance with the Dutch and Indians of Long Island 
and New York. 

Captain John Astwood was sent as a special agent from New Haven to 
Cromwell and the Parliament to solicit aid in reducing the Dutch. Letters 
were dispatched from Connecticut to Parliament, to General Worth and 
to Mr. Edward Hopkins, who was then in England. 

An attack from the Dutch was expected at any moment, as it was 
known that they were awaiting a reinforcement from Holland. It was 
expected that when the Dutch ships should give a signal, the Indians 
would rise and begin their savage work by firing the English towns and 
massacring the inhabitants. Meanwhile Stuyvesant, as much alarmed as 
the English, made every preparation of defense at New Amsterdam ; and 
the people " for once agreed to submit to a tax for digging a ditch from 
the North to the East rivers, &; the erection of a breast-work & palisadoe 
to secure the town from attack." The alarm of the Dutch at an impend- 
ing English and Indian invi^!«jn vva.e most distressing, for they had every 
reason to believe that unless speedy succor was sent them from Holland, 
they would be overpowered by the English, who far exceeded them in 
numbers.* Great dissatisfaction prevailed at this time in New England 
with the rigor of the colonial laws. The Dutch were equally dissatisfied 
with the tyrannical rule of Governor Stuyvesant. The mild policy of 
Connecticut stood out in st ong relief, in comparison with that of the 
other colonial jurisdictions. 

* Bryant - lli . United States, I., 140-147. 



78 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1653 

The turbulent state of affairs in England, after the death of Charles I., 
seriously affected the English colonies, and " the liberties of the people," 
were the daily theme of conversation. On the i6th of December, 1653, 
Oliver Cromwell was given the title of " His Highness the Lord Protector of 
England." He was intrusted with the authority of which they had deprived 
their king. Meanwhile Charles H., having escaped from England, found 
a safe refuge among his friends on the continent. Governor Sir William 
Berkeley, of Virginia, had sent an invitation to Prince Charles to come to 
Virginia and be their king, which awakened a great excitement in all the 
American plantations,* George Baxter, who had been the former English 
secretary, and James Hubbard, of Gravesend, L. I., made themselves con- 
spicuous, both in the Dutch and English colonies, by stirring up a feeling 
of rebellion against the Dutch governor, who not only expelled them from 
his jurisdiction, but obliged all the English under his authority to take the 
oath of allegiance to the Dutch province. Captain John Underbill, of Stam- 
ford, who had been of great service to the Dutch, hoisted the colors of 
Parliament at Flushing and Hempstead, and issued a manifesto setting 
forth the impositions practiced upon the liberties of the people by taxes; 
appointing magistrates without the vote of the people; violation of con- 
science, and conspiring with the Indians to murder the English. He was 
seized and imprisoned, but the Dutch governor soon after released him. 
He then proceeded to Rhode Island, where he was made commander- 
in-chief of a band of volunteers, and without delay marched to the fort 
of Good Hope on the Connecticut ; but finding it empty he posted upon 
the door a notice, " Jo : Underbill [did] seaze upon this hous and lands 
thereunto belonging, as Dutch goods claymed by the West India Company 
in Amsterdam, enemies of the Commonwealt'. of England." He then 
disbanded his company of twenty volunteers, ■;■ sold out the fort and 
the Dutch land adjacent, on his own account foi twenty pounds sterling. 
About a month later he gave a second deed ot the same lands to another 
party. 

Instigated by Robert Basset ^rd John Cli.ipman of Stamford, the inhab- 
itants of Stamford cxhib'ted great dissatisfaction with the government of 

* " The Virginia colonists were staunch loyalists. Go\erno Berkeley ruled Virginia under a 
commission from Prince Charles, the exiled son of Charl;s I The Republican Parliament of 
England was offended by the persistent attachment of th< Virginians to royalty, & early in the 
spring of 1652 sent Sir George Ayscue with a powerful jflieet to reduce them. Meanwhile Berke- 
ley & the Cavaliers or Royalists had resolved not to submit & had sent a messenger to Breda, to 
invite Prince Charles to come over & be their king. He w is preparing to come, when affairs took 
a turn in England, which foreshadowed a soeedy restoration of monarchy there." — Student Hume, 
p. 768. 



1654] WARS AND RUMORS OF WARS 79 

New Haven. They complained of neglect, bad government and unreasona- 
ble taxes ; that the people were deprived of their liberties and denied just 
privileges. They assumed to set up for the government of England 
against that of the colony of New Haven. They demanded that New 
Haven should prosecute the war against the Dutch, and allow them to 
raise men in other towns ; and that they were resolved to raise men for 
this purpose among themselves. 

About the time that Governor Berkeley and the Virginia cavaliers 
invited Prince Charles to come over and be their king, a mariner by the 
name of Thomas Adams " (as he called himself), though in apparel & 
carriage he acted a part as if he had been the king of Scots or some great 
prince (though not willing to be known) & by some was called (King Tom)," 
came to Stamford.* He was entertained by Robert Basset, who pre- 
sented him with " guns at parting," being fully satisfied in his own mind, 
as he afterwards declared, that he was the king. 

As Rhode Island was not recognized by the New England colonies, 
her inhabitants declared for Parliament, and took measures to subdue the 
Dutch on this side of the Atlantic. Captain Thomas Baxter, who is some- 
times confused with the above George Baxter, sailed from Rhode Island, 
and by virtue of a commission given him from that colony " under the 
commonwealth of England," captured without discrimination both Dutch 
and English vessels. Near the Manhadoes he seized a Dutch vessel 
belonging to a Mr. Mayhew, and brought her into Black Rock harbor. 
Without delay the Dutch prepared two war vessels with ammunition and 
cannon, and with one hundred men, who were dispatched to Connecticut, 
and " lay in the road near the opening of Fairfield harbor " — Black Rock. 
The appearance of these men-of-war caused great excitement at Fairfield. 
A public meeting was called, and it was voted by the townsmen that an army 
should be immediately prepared, not only for the protection of the town, 
but to make war upon the Dutch. Ludlow was appointed commander-in- 
chief. Firmly persuaded than an attack might be made upon the town 
at any moment, Ludlow accepted the office as one of military necessity, 
and at once began to drill the men and prepare for any emergency. He 
immediately wrote to Governor Eaton notifying him of his appointment. 
His letter was read before a General Court assembled at New Haven on 
the 22d of November, 1653. 

After a long consultation held by Governor Eaton with the magistrates, 
deputies, and most of the elders in the New Haven colony, it was decided : 
"It being so near winter, & the want of suitable vessels & the like, they 

* New Haven Col. Rec, II., 60. 



80 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1654 

did not see themselves called upon to vote for a present war, but to 
suspend a full issue till Connecticut jurisdiction be acquainted v/ith it, & 
give notice what they will do ; bitt if tJicy agree to carry it on now, then 
this court agrees to join with them, & to meete again to consider & order 
as the case may require." 

About the ist of March orders reached the New England colonies from 
Cromwell and the Parliament, that the Dutch were to be treated as the 
enemies of England. The General CoUrt of Connecticut met on the 6th 
of March, and ordered that a special warrant should be granted Jonathan 
Gilbert to arrest Thomas Baxter of Fairfield, for disturbing the peace of 
the colony. Stamford and Fairfield were each required to choose one 
man, and present their names to the next court of election, as assistants 
to the magistrates. 

During the winter a sad calamity fell upon the colony, by which it was 
deprived of the wisdom and counsel of one of its most popular leaders. 
Governor John Haynes died on the ist of March, 1654. He was a gentle- 
man of good family, and owned a fine estate called Copford Hall, in Essex, 
England. He was distinguished for his abilities, prudence and piety. He 
spent his money freely, and endured many hardships and perils for the 
advancement of the interests of the colony. He was associated with 
Ludlow in many important ofifices of trust, and warmly sympathized with 
him in his responsibilities at this critical time. The General Court assem- 
bled at Hartford on the 6th of March, when it was ordered that, " In 
respect of a sad breach God has made upon us by the sudden death of our 
late Governor, & the like mortality of our neighbors in the Bay, some 
eminent rejnovals of others, & spreading opinions in the colonies, the condi- 
tion of our native country, the alienation of the Colonies in regard of the 
combination," the 15th of March should be set apart as a day of fasting 
and prayer throughout the jurisdiction. 

On the 8th of March the General Court of New Haven ordered the 
arrest of Thomas Baxter and John Youngs, a son of the Rev. John Youngs 
of Southold, Long Lsland. The latter had been heard to say that he 
would procure sixty men at Uncoway to garrison Southold, to defend him 
against the power of New Haven. Upon leaving Southold he had been 
arrested and imprisoned by the Dutch, and a second order was given for 
his arrest from New Haven, as soon as he was released from confinement 
at the Manhadoes. Thomas Baxter was accused " of plundering, spoiling 
& robbing ; & of taking a vessel which belonged to the Plymouth Colony, 
to the great damage of sundrie persons." He was soon after arrested at 
Fairfield, and on the loth of March was brought before the New Haven 



1654] WARS AND RUMORS OF WARS 81 

magistrates. He was charged with seizing Mr. Mayoe's vessel without a 
proper commission, and " with many miscarriages of a high nature at Fair- 
field." He was also accused of flourishing a flag and beating a drum at 
Stamford to call volunteers to go against the Dutch ; of threatening the 
constable there and those who opposed him ; of seizing a canoe belonging 
to one of the magistrates, and striking with a half-pike upon the head and 
shoulders the ward who attempted to detain it. It was charged that one 
of his men drew his cutlas and struck at the ward's hand, while the 
others stood with their guns cocked declaring they would shoot; and that 
he had detained a servant of Mr. Fowler's until he saw fit to send him 
home. To these charges he pleaded that he thought his commission 
from Rhode Island warranted him to seize any Dutch vessels while they 
were the enemies of the Commonwealth of England. Having heard him 
thus far, the magistrates of New Haven decided to send him to Connec- 
ticut to answer for what he had done in that jurisdiction. Two of his 
men, William Ellitt and Abraham Frost, of Stamford, were brought in as 
prisoners. It was also decided to send them to the General Court of 
Connecticut. John Odell of Pequonnock, being present, was then called 
upon by the marshal of Connecticut to testify in regard to the conduct of 
the prisoners, before sending them to be tried by the Connecticut court, 
which he did as follows: 

" John Odell testifyeth under oath that as Baxter's men went up & down the streets 
of Fairfield, with their swords drawn in their hands, he heard William Ellitt sweare with a 
^reat oath (but l<nowes not the words) that with them hands of his, he would be avenged 
upon the blood of some of them, which had taken his Captain, & he supposed their was 
about a dozzen of them, which so runn with their swords drawn." 

Lieutenant Cook and Goodman Lewis of Hartford, Edward Parker and 
Daniel Hopper, who were sent from New Haven to Fairfield to take Baxter 
and his men, were also brought before the court. They testified that upon 
the arrest of Baxter, Robert Basset ran after Lieutenant Cook and his men 
with high and offensive words. He demanded that Lieutenant Cook put up 
his sword ; that they then seized and disarmed him and carried him with 
Baxter to the house w^here the latter was kept a prisoner; but that Basset 
soon went away without leave. They further testified that they thought 
Basset instigated the riot which followed, for he had been away but a short 
time, when a party of men assaulted the guard who had charge of Baxter. 
A skirmish took place, in which one of Baxter's men was killed, and one of 
Lieutenant Cook's men wounded. Soon after Basset returned and plead for 
the release of Baxter. Goodman Lewis testified that after Basset's arrest, 
6 



82 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1654 

while walking with him, he told him that he had heard he had been active 
in drawing men together against the commonwealth where he lived ; and 
that he said he would be a " reformer not only of commonwealths, but of 
churches also." Basset did not deny this charge, but replied, " indeed this 
is the thing that troubles me, that we have not our vote in our jurisdiction 
as others have, & instanced the Connecticut jurisdiction." He showed 
great contrition before the court, and acknowledged that he had been 
engaged with John Youngs, one Captain Eaton, Jeremiah Jaggers and Wil- 
liam Newman and old Newman, at Stamford, in raising volunteers to make 
war upon the Dutch ; and also of receiving and concealing a seditious let- 
ter against the commonwealth of New Haven, to overthrow the colonial 
government both of church and state. It was proved that he and his 
companions had set out with a view of visiting all the towns west of New 
Haven, to arouse a seditious spirit among the people, which they had 
carried out, until they were on their way from Norwalk to Fairfield, when 
they were arrested by two commissioners from New Haven, and tempo- 
rarily lodged in the Fairfield jail. He was ordered to give up the seditious 
papers which he and John Chapman had used along the coast ; and until 
such papers were found, he was to be put in irons. He pleaded guilty of 
all the charges brought against him, but upon exhibiting a penitent spirit, 
and taking the oath of allegiance to the New Haven colony, he was 
allowed to return to Stamford."^ 

The trial of Baxter and those engaged with him continued until the 
latter part of March, when it was again decided that he should "be sent 
to Connecticut, to see what they would do with him." The others were 
heavily fined and bound under large bonds for their future loyalty to the 
government of New England. 

At the assembling of the General Court of Connecticut at Hartford on 
the 6th of March, Thomas Baxter was fined seventy pounds, to be paid to 
the colony treasury, and that he should give bonds of two hundred pounds, 
at the hand of some good and satisfactory security, for his good behavior 
for one year. He was also ordered to pay Mr. Mayhew, the owner of the 
Dutch vessel which he had taken, the sum of one hundred and fifty 
pounds, f 

Captain John Underbill's seizure and sale of Fort Good Hope was not 

* New Haver. Col. Rec, 2, 48-57. Basset owned a home-lot in Fairfield in 1653. Baxter 
also pretended to live in Fairfield in 1654. His wife Bridget was divorced from him by an order 
of the General Court of Connecticut in 1662. John Chapman had lived in the New Haven colony, 
was in Fairfield in 1647, and soon after removed to Stamford. 

f Col. Rec. Conn., i, 253. 



1654] WARS AND RUMORS OF WARS 83 

recognized by the court, which decided " that in consideration of the order 
sent over by authority from the Parhament of England, for all due encour- 
agement & assistance against their enemies the Dutch," that the Dutch 
house Good Hope and lands should be claimed by the English until a trial 
could be had. Meanwhile all improvement of those lands was prohib- 
ited without the consent of the court. 

At this alarming period in the history of New England, the sale of 
liquor among the Indians had become a dangerous source of evil ; in con- 
sequence of which at the sitting of this court, a stringent law was passed 
against the sale of wine or liquor to the Indians, under a penalty of " five 
pounds for every pint sold, & forty shillings for the least quantit}'." It was 
ordered: "All Barbadoes liquor, commonly called '■Ruin Kill Deviir or 
the like," if landed in any place in the Connecticut jurisdiction, should be 
forfeited to the commonwealth, " two thirds part to be paid into the public 
treasury, & one third to the party who seized the liquor." A duty of 
"ten shillings was levied upon every anchor of liquor, forty shillings upon a 
butt of wine, twenty shillings upon a hogshead of wine, ten shillings upon 
a cask, whether they were full or noe." No person was allowed to retail 
liquor without a license from the General Court, under a penalty of twenty 
shillings. The insurrection instigated by Baxter, Youngs, Basset and 
their companions against the Dutch and the colony of New Haven, 
brought about the necessity of strong legislative action in Connecticut, 
and specially in New Haven, where every efTort was made to prevent a 
civil war at home. The appearance of two Dutch men-of-war at the 
entrance of Black Rock harbor, led those of calm judgment and thoughtful 
consideration, to think the advice of the elders of the Bay, not altogether 
unreasonable. Nevertheless the Connecticut magistrates resolved to root 
out the Dutch within the jurisdiction. It is shown in the above account 
that during the fiery ordeal through which Fairfield passed, neither her 
chief officers nor citizens gave any countenance whatever to the pro- 
ceedings of Baxter, Youngs, or Basset. 

The course pursued by Ludlow in preparing troops for the defense of 
the town, was in every way in accordance with the office which had been 
assigned him by the General Court of Connecticut. In the month of 
April, 1653, he had, with Mr. Cullick, been given power to impress men in 
the river towns for the protection of the Saybrook fort and river inhabi- 
tants. On the 1 8th of June following, with Mr. Cullick, he was " invested 
with full power to agitate such occasions as concerned the United Colo- 
nies, ^^cr^'r^f//?^ /<? //^^7y/(?r;;zrr r^;;?w/j'.?'/^;«.'' While attending the meeting 
of the commissioners in May, the General Court voted "that there should 



84 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1654 

be no change made in the military officers at Stratford, during his absence," 
thus giving him power to appoint officers by the sea-side. On the 27th of 
July he was appointed with Governor Haynes to treat with Governor 
Eaton and the New Haven magistrates, about purchasing and fitting out 
a man-of-war to cruise up and down the Sound, to protect the English 
settlements on the Long Island and the Connecticut coast, and also to 
treat with the English and the friendly Indians of Long Island in making 
preparations, should war be declared. Therefore when an armed vessel 
from the Manhadoes appeared in the harbor of his own town, Ludlow not 
only acted under the power of his commission, but with the judgment and 
necessary precaution due to the citizens of Fairfield. By a vote of the 
freemen of Fairfield he was made commander-in-chief of the militia of the 
town, which was a legal action according to a law of the colony that each 
town should choose its own officers ; but they had no legal authority to 
declare war without the sanction of the commissioners of the united 
colonies, which both Connecticut and New Haven declared had been 
dissolved by Massachusetts. With one hundred armed men from the 
Manhadoes lying off their harbor, the townsmen of Fairfield would have 
been arrant cowards if they had not declared war against the Dutch, and 
gone out to defend their homes and firesides, in case of an attack from the 
ships, which their formidable appearance in the harbor gave occasion to 
expect at any moment. 

If the chief townsmen of Fairfield in 1779 ^^^ been as active as they 
were in 1654, Fairfield would never have passed through the ordeal of fire 
and devastation at the hands of the British by Tryon and his troops. The 
state legislature of Connecticut has never appeared to take into considera- 
tion the danger to which the towns within her jurisdiction bordering upon 
Long Island Sound have been exposed. It is a noticeable fact, however, 
that on the 14th of April, 1653, Ludlow was appointed with Mr. Cullick to 
take all prompt and necessary measures for the defense of Saybrook and 
the river settlements. The General Court of Connecticut, even at this 
critical moment, went so far asto order the seizure of the Dutch fort Good 
Hope and lands at Hartford, while Fairfield, left to protect herself, even as 
in 1779, for want of necessary legislative action, was made a conspicuous 
mark for any foreign enemy to plunder and destroy. 

There is no doubt that the course pursued by the General Court and 
commissioners of Massachusetts, and a marked caution at this time in the 
policy of the General Courts of Connecticut and Nev/ Haven, by which 
Ludlow found himself and his townsmen left exposed to the mercy of the 
Dutch and Indians, were the leading causes which led to his removal from 



1654] WARS AND RUMORS OF WARS 85 

New England.* Added to these, he must have been overwhelmed with 
astonishment and disgust, when a disgraceful suit for slander was brought 
against him by Thomas Staples, of Fairfield, by which an attempt was 
made to fasten upon him a prevalent report, which almost every leading 
man and woman in the town of Fairfield had in vain endeavored to prove 
by the witch Knap, viz. : that Mrs. Thomas Staples was a witch. He 
gathered affidavits from a large majority of the citizens of Fairfield, which 
he left in the hands of his attorney, Alexander Bryan, of Milford, clearly 
setting forth the injustice of the charges brought against him.f There 
exists no authority whatever for the statement advanced by some writers, 
that Ludlow conceived that the just reprimand of Baxter, who at best was 
but a piratical character, of Basset and Youngs who were proven leaders 
of a band of outlaws, was aimed as a reproof to him. He contin- 
ued to occupy his place as one of the magistrates of the General Court 
until April, and was present on the 6th of March, 1654, when, ''■ some emi- 
nc7it removals from the colony,'' were mentioned among the causes for ap- 
pointing a day of special fasting and prayer, which undoubtedly referred 
to him. 

He was no longer a young man. For twenty-four years he had given 
the prime of his life in an active and Herculean service in building up a 
republic in New England. With an Englishman's pride and ambition, he 
hoped to extend the possessions of his native country throughout America. 
The Dutch, in his estimation, were but mere intruders between the New 
England and Virginia colonies. An imminent war with them, a threat- 
ened civil war in the New Haven colony, the prospect of a rise among the 
Indians, which he could plainly see must sooner or later be inevitable, and 
the increasing political and ecclesiastical troubles of the New England 
colonies, no doubt led him to desire a safer and a happier home for him- 
self and his family. He therefore resolved to return to England. Before 
taking leave of his friends in America, he made preparations to visit his 
brother, George Ludlow, who owned a large plantation at Yorktown, in 
Virginia. It would scarcely be expected that Ludlow would be a favorite 
with the New Haven colonists. From the date of his settlement at Unco- 
way to the present period of his life in New England, he had been strongly 
opposed to New Haven being a separate colony. He chartered a ship 
carrying ten guns, of one Captain John Manning of Milford, to convey him 
with his family and effects to Virginia. It was found, however, that Cap- 
tain Manning had been engaged during the winter in trading between 

* Life of Roger Ludlow in New England. Appendix No. L 

f See Suit of Thomas Staples against Roger Ludlow. Appendix No. H. 



86 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1654 

the planters of Virginia and the Dutch of New Amsterdam, which was 
strictly prohibited by the Connecticut and New Haven colonies; and, as 
Milford belonged to the New Haven colony, both he and his vessel were 
seized by the authorities of that jurisdiction. 

Ludlow laid before Governor Eaton the great inconvenience and dam- 
age which the staying of the ship would be to him ; and demanded a writ- 
ten statement of the grounds of its detention. The governor furnished 
the reasons, when Ludlow laid claim to the vessel as his own, probably 
because he considered it such after he had hired it for his own private use. 
But upon being reminded he had previously stated that he hired it, and 
" that men need not hire that which is their own," it was at length agreed 
that he should leave one hundred pounds of his estate in the hands of 
Alexander Bryan of Milford, as security that Manning would present him- 
self "to the authorities in England, before the 20. of October, to answer 
the charges made against him; & to abide their censure — " provided that 
upon receiving notice from thence of the decision they would be satisfied 
to release the securities furnished. Li the mean time Ludlow required 
papers to the effect that Captain Manning and his vessel might be at his 
service "in all ways allowed by the state of England." But before he 
and Manning had left New Haven, it was discovered that Manning's 
seamen " had struck against orders & with a high hand & threatening 
speeches" had carried away his vessel. They were pursued by a shallop 
containing thirteen armed men sent out from Milford. Ludlow and Cap- 
tain Manning were immediately sent for, and informed of this offense. 
Upon Ludlow's being asked if he would give the security which he had 
promised, he declined to do so, because the vessel had left Milford. In 
the mean time the vessel was so hotly pursued by the shallop, that her 
men escaped in a skiff, leaving her adrift, taking with them the captain's 
trunk, books and writings. The forsaken vessel, with a considerable 
expense and hazard, was recovered and brought back to Milford, when 
" Ludlow again tendered the former securities ; " but having refused it, 
while the vessel was in the hands of Manning s men, a trial of the case was 
ordered before the General Court of New Haven. Mannijig was charged 
with having ordered his men out of the harbor of Milford, to await his 
overtaking them, which he denied. He was fined, however, the sumi of 
twenty shillings, for telling " two lyes," made to bear all the expenses 
of the trial at New Haven and at Milford, and sent to England to be pun- 
ished for trading with the Dutch. The Milford men who recovered his 
vessel were granted twenty shillings apiece, and their court fees. Man- 
ning's vessel, which was pronounced a prize, was ordered to be sold at 



1654] WARS AND RUMORS OF WARS 8/ 

Milford on the following Tuesday, "at three o'clock in the afternoon, by 
an inch of the candle." 

Soon after, the 26th of April, Ludlow took leave of his friends in Con- 
necticut, and sailed for Virginia. It must have been with a keen pang of 
sorrow that he bade adieu to Fairfield, which he had watched with the 
pride of a father in its growth out of a wilderness into a beautiful town. 
Had he remained in Connecticut his talents would undoubtedly have won 
for him a higher position than he had previously occupied. But his work 
in New England had been accomplished. It was a noble work, which 
more than two centuries after he left the country, stands out as a colossal 
monument to his genius aiid to his memory. His dwelling, home-lot and 
pasture lot were left with William Hill for sale, and were purchased by 
Nathan Gold on the i8th May, 1654.* 

In the latter part of the winter or early spring of 1654, Ludlow paid a 
visit to the Rev. John Davenport, of New Haven ; and one evening, while 
in conversation with him and Mrs. Davenport, he was led to relate the 
circumstances connected with the trial and execution of the witch Knapp 
at Fairfield, and her vindictive effort, even in her last moments, to fasten 
upon Mrs. Thomas Staples the stigma of being a witch. He also spoke 
of the course' pursued by Mrs. Staples before the execution and afterwards 
in examining the body of good-wife Knapp for the marks of a witch, de- 
claring before several women standing by, " that if the marks upon the 
body were those of a witch she was one herself, for she had the same 
marks." He requested that what he had related might be regarded as 
confidential, as he did not wish the story to be circulated from him ; that 
others who had overheard the declaration of the witch, either had or would 

* Record of Roger Ludlow's grant of home-lot, etc., from the Town, 4 Feb., 1653. A, Town 
Deeds, p. 86. — Sale to Alexander Bryant, 10 May, 1654. A, Town Deeds, p. 57. — Sale to Nathan 
Gold, I., II May, 1654. A, Town Deeds, p. 52. — Willed to Nathan Gold, II., March i, 1693, 
Prob. Rec, Vol. 1689-1701. — Willed to Nathan Gold, III., April 2g, 1724, Prob. Rec, Vol. 1716- 
1735. — Willed to grandson Jabez Hubbell, legal representative of Martha Gold Hubbell, Sept. 28, 
1761, Prob. Rec, Vol. 1754-1764. — Willed by Jabez Hubbell to his son James and his wife Roda, 
Jan. 3, 1798, Prob. Rec, Vol. 1799-18x8. Jabez Hubbell died in 1817. His son James died at 
Hartford, 1810. The heirs of Jabez Hubbell and Roda, his wife, namely, Emily Bulkley, David 
Mallory, Jabez A. West, Hannah West, Caroline Gilbert, Simon H. Mallory, George, Elizabeth, 
and Jeremiah Mallory, on the 2 April, 1S35, had this homestead distributed to them. Prob. Rec, 
Vol. 1827-1835, p. 695. — The Hubbell heirs sold it to Obediah Jones in 1835. Town Deeds, Vol. 
44, pages 546, 458, 700, 297, etc. — O. W.Jones sold it to John Thompson, Town Records, Vol. 47. 
John Thompson re-sold it to O. W. Jones, 22 Feb., 1850. Vol. 48, p. 512. — O. W. Jones deeded 
it to Sarah J. Haines, March, 1851. Town Deeds, Vol. 49. — Charles N. Butt and Sarah J. Butt, 
J. H. Knox and Augusta Knox, the heirs of Sarah J. Haines, deeded it to Elizabeth A. Talbot, 
May 7, 1853. Town Deeds, Vol. 50, pp. 724-725. — George A. Talbot and the heirs of Elizabeth 
A. Talbot deeded it to Oliver O. Jennings, 29 April, 1880, Vol. 61, pp. 729, 730. 



88 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1654 

soon spread it abroad. Soon after Thomas Staples instituted a suit 
against Mr. Ludlow for defaming his wife's chai'acter ; to which he gave no 
attention, except to leave an overwhelming amount of evidence in the 
hands of his attorney, Alexander Bryan of Milford, which clearly proved 
that he was not responsible for what the witch Knapp and Mrs. Staples 
herself had declared to be true. Mrs. Staples was evidently one of those 
sharp, shrewd women, who arc not to be silenced in their professed opinions 
by any one. Her outspoken opinion against one of the principal laws of 
the colony, was enough of itself in those days to condemn her as a witch. 
She had also had a quarrel with Ludlow, who had charged her with telling 
falsehoods, or in plainer words, of telling a series of lies. People used 
plain, ungarnished language in those days, and a lie was a lie, white or 
black. Altogether, Mrs. Staples felt herself to be an exceedingly conspic- 
uous person at that time, and consequently made herself such. She had 
no idea of being made either to suffer punishment as a witch or to believe 
in witchcraft. In the estimation of the public, particularly among the best 
people of the town, there was an uneasy suspicion that perhaps she was a 
witch. Therefore, in order to clear her from the charge, and the danger 
of being hanged, her husband resolved to make a scape-goat of Ludlow, 
by bringing an action of slander against him, thereby making him suffer 
for the witch Knapp's accusation and of public opinion, as well as for 
charging his wife in the meeting-house with having '^ gone on in a tract of 
lyingy The suit took place in New Haven on the 29th of May, 1654, a 
month after Ludlow left for Virginia, and, as will be seen hereafter, he 
was fined several pounds and costs of the court. 

For the first time in almost twenty years the name of Roger Ludlow 
disappears from the list of magistrates, chosen at the General Court of 
election held on the i8th of May. Andrew Ward and William Hill were 
again elected deputies from Fairfield. George Hull and Alexander 
Knowles were chosen assistants to the magistrates sent by the General 
Court to execute justice in the sea-side towns ; "to marry persons ; & to 
press horses for the public zvelfare^ The assistants at Fairfield and the 
adjacent towns, were given liberty to examine the causes of disquietude 
among them ; and either to send the delinquents to Hartford for trial, or 
to send for some of the magistrates of the General Court to hold a court 
in their respective towns. Mr. Wells, Mr. Webster, and Mr. Clark were 
appointed to carry out this order if necessity required. An amendment to 
the constitution was made, by which, in the absence of the governor and 
deputy-governor, the major part of the magistrates were given power to 
assemble a court, and choose a moderator from among themselves, which 



1654] WARS AND RUMORS OF WARS 89 

court should be deemed a court "as legal to all intents & purposes" as 
if the governor and deputy-governor were present. 

Early in June Major Sedgwick and Captain Leveret arrived at Boston 
with a fleet of three or four ships, and a land force, bringing with them a 
commission from Cromwell to unite the four New England colonies in a 
war against the Dutch. They called for an immediate meeting of the 
commissioners, to consult with them about the designed expedition. 
Connecticut responded by sending Major John Mason and Mr. Cullick, 
with " instructions to engage any number of men, not exceeding two 
hundred ; but rather than the expedition should fail, four or five hundred," 
This help would be granted, even in case Massachusetts should refuse to 
join with them. New Haven sent her commissioners, with instructions 
to engage all the men and provisions they could spare, " & to pledge 
assistants though no other except Connecticut should join with them." 
The General Court of Massachusetts did not agree to raise men them- 
selves, but granted Major Sedgwick and Captain Leveret liberty to raise 
five hundred men. This number was reduced to three hundred by the 
commissioners, who also agreed that Connecticut should furnish two 
hundred, and New Haven one hundred and thirty-three, to join with two 
hundred from the ships, making in all a force of eight hundred and thirty- 
three men. Active measures were at once set on foot towards making an 
immediate attack upon the Dutch. 

Fairfield and the towns adjacent were all bustle and activity with 
preparations for both an offensive and defensive war. In the mean time 
the Dutch had used all possible influence to induce Governor Stuyvesant to 
make peace with the English. They even called a meeting of delegates 
from their towns, who refused to be compelled to pay taxes "to provide 
against their own ruin & destruction," and, " therefore," they said, " we 
will not pay any more taxes." The news of the arrival of the English 
ships, and of an immediate attack within their own borders, caused a state 
of great consternation. Old men, women and children, with goods and 
valuables, were removed to safer quarters. Governor Stuyvesant was 
urged b}' many of the leading citizens of New Amsterdam " to surrender 
the city without bloodshed ; " but the sturdy old governor disdained the 
idea, and vented his wrath upon all such intruders. In the midst of the 
great excitement which prevailed, news that peace had been declared 
between England and Holland was wafted across the Atlantic. This was 
glad news to the English colonists, who were saved from a most unhappy 
war ; and especially to the Dutch settlers, who manifested their great joy 
in public and social festivities, by ringing of bells and booming of cannons. 



90 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1654 

Governor Stuyvesant appointed a day of general thanksgiving throughout 
the Dutch domains in America. In his proclamation he thus expressed 
his gratitude : " Praise the Lord O England's Jerusalem ; & Nether- 
land's Sion. Praise the Lord! He both secured your gates, & blessed 
your possessions with peace, even here, where the threatened torch of war 
was lighted ; where waves reached our lips, & subsided only through the 
power of the Almighty." * 

The commander-in-chief of the English fleet, no doubt by orders from 
Cromwell, at once turned his attention towards dispossessing the French 
along the coast between Penobscot and St. John. Meanwhile trouble had 
arisen between Ninigret and the Mohegans and the Long Island Indians. 
Ninigret had hired the Mohawks, Pocomstocks and Wampanoags, after- 
wards called Philip's Indians, to destroy both the Mohegans and the Long 
Island Indians. Overshadowed with the dread of annihilation, the Long 
Island Indians, who had suffered greatly at the hands of Ninigret, 
placed themselves under the protection of Connecticut. This combina- 
tion of the Indians was a serious cause of danger to the peace of the 
English settlements. The course pursued by Massachusetts in breaking 
the articles of confederation, resulted in so much feeling in the other colo- 
nies, that a meeting of the commissioners was not expected to take place 
in the fall. Massachusetts represented that the articles of agreement 
needed amendment, and proposed a meeting for that purpose, which was 
declined by the other colonies, on the ground that the articles were 
perfectly clear and explicit, and therefore needed no amendment. When 
it was discovered, however, that Ninigret had excited a general war among 
the Indian tribes in New England, Massachusetts expressed a willingness 
to renew her covenant with the other colonies, acceding to the original 
articles of combination, and sent commissioners to attend their annual 
meeting in September, f 

The commissioners met this year at Hartford and resolved upon a war 
with Ninigret. Forty horsemen and two hundred footmen were ordered 
to be immediately equipped for the several colonies. A part of this force 
was to be dispatched without delay to the Niantic country, and the 
remainder were to be held in readiness to march upon notice. At a 
meeting of the General Court of Connecticut on the 3d of October, it was 
ordered, that the division of men to be pressed out of each town, to go 
upon the expedition to Narragansett, should be carried out according to 
the conclusion of the commissioners. Forty-five men were to be chosen 

* Bryant's Hist. United States, II., 149. 
f Trumbull's Hist. Conn. I., 228-230. 



K 



x654] WARS AND RUMORS OF WARS 9I 

out of the towns, six of whom were to be drafted from Fairfield. The first 
company was to consist of twenty-four, and the second of twenty-one men. 
Committees from each town were chosen to impress men into the service 
of the expedition. Andrew Ward and Alexander Knowles were appointed 
a committee for Fairfield. The New Haven colony agreed to send thirty- 
one men to join the Connecticut forces ; and Lieutenant Robert Seely, with 
a detachment of men, supplies and ammunition, was ordered to join Major 
Mason at Saybrook. Massachusetts was to raise forty horsemen and one 
hundred and fifty-three footmen. The companies were ordered to be upon 
the march by the following Wednesday to join the Massachusetts forces 
"on the 13th at Thomas Stanton's." 

A special effort was made this year to convert the Indians, as well as 
to prevent the growing evil of intemperance among them. In order to be 
provided with a suitable interpreter, the General Court invited Thomas 
Minor, of Pequot, to send his son, John Minor, to Hartford, where the 
court would provide for his maintenance and schooling, to the end that 
he might act as an interpreter to the ministers and judges in the several 
towns. The names of John Minor and John Sherwood are to be found 
attached to the Indian deeds of Fairfield, as interpreters between the 
townsmen and the Indians in the final purchase of Indian lands. A day 
of public fasting and prayer was appointed throughout the jurisdiction of 
Connecticut " to seek the presence & blessing of the Lord " upon the 
expedition to the Nehantics. 

Major Mason was granted power to call the train bands together from 
the several towns once in two years, as a general trainiiig-day, on the first or 
second week in September. At a General Court held at Hartford on the 
14th of September, the returns of taxable persons and property at Fairfield 
were as follows : Persons, 74 ; estates, ^8,634. A day was appointed to be 
set apart about the 1st of November as. a general thanksgiving. The mes- 
sengers dispatched by the commissioners to Ninigret demanding his pres- 
ence at Hartford, and that he should bring with him the tribute he had 
pledged to the Pequots under his protection, returned without having re- 
ceived any satisfaction whatever from him. Ninigret refused to go or send 
to Hartford, or to make peace with Uncas and the Long Island Indians. 
He said he did not owe the Pequots any tribute, and desired " that the 
English should let him alone," and allow him to fight out his own quarrel 
with the Long Island Indians, with which he did not see that the commis- 
sioners had anything whatever to do. Upon receiving this answer, the com- 
missioners ordered the troops to march without delay into the Nehantic 
country, and oblige Ninigret and his allies to accept terms of peace. They 



92 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1655 

nominated Major Gibson, Major 'Denison and Captain Atherton to the 
chief command, leaving it to the General Court of Massachusetts to 
appoint which of the three should be most acceptable to them. They 
declined all three, and appointed Major Willard to that office. 

The forces were immediately placed under Willard's command, and 
proceeded directly to Ninigret's quarters; but found that he and his men 
had fied into a swamp about fourteen or fifteen miles distant, leaving 
their wigwams and corn without protection. Major Willard did not make 
an attempt to pursue him, or to molest his quarters. The Pequots, num- 
bering about one hundred, followed his troops back to Hartford, and 
placed themselves under the protection of the English. The commis- 
sioners were greatly disappointed and displeased with the inactivity of 
Major Willard, who, they said, had lost a golden opportunity to humble 
the pride of Ninigret. He gave very unsatisfactory reasons for his course, 
but it was apparent that Massachusetts, being desirous of avoiding an open 
war, had secretly instructed him not to provoke hostilities. 

After Major Willard returned to Hartford, Ninigret became more 
haughty than ever. He pursued his resentment against Uncas and the 
Long Island Indians; and both the English and Indians on the Island 
were in constant fear of a general massacre. In their dilemma an appeal 
for assistance was made to the commissioners, who ordered that a vessel 
should cruise between Neanticut and Long Island to watch Ninigret. 
Captain John Youngs was appointed to command the vessel, and to call 
for as many men as he required from the fort at Say brook. He was 
instructed that in case Ninigret attempted to cross the Sound, to seize and 
stave his canoes, and to destroy his men in their design. Supplies of 
ammunition were sent to the Montauket sachem to be used only to defend 
himself against Ninigret. South and East Hampton, with the towns 
adjacent, were provided with ammunition and provisions by Connecticut 
and New Haven. Massachusetts remained neutral, leaving Connecticut 
and New Haven to protect their own interests. At the May election 
Andrew Ward and William Hill were chosen deputies to the General 
Court from Fairfield. " Governor Thomas Wells, Deputy Governor John 
Webster & Mr. Clark were desired to go down to the sea-side to keep 
court at Fairfield or Stamford." 

The town of Norwalk was granted all the lands which it had purchased 
of the Indians, " not of right belonging to the plantation of Fairfield." 
Between the intervals of the General Courts, the magistrates were given 
authority to appoint a public day of fasting and thanksgiving as they 
judged meet. It was ordered, with the approbation of the deputies from 



1656J WARS AND RUMORS OF WARS 93 

the sea-side, viz. : Fairfield, Stratford and Norvvalk, that the expense of 
the courts, except in cases of a breach of the capital laws, should be borne 
by the towns in which the courts were held ; and in cases of capital offenses, 
one half was to be paid by the towns and the other half by the colony. 
An amicable meeting of the commissioners took place in September at 
Plymouth. At a General Court held at Hartford on the 4th of October, 
" The Commissioners of Stratford & Fairfield were fined 40" a piece, for 
neglecting an order to meet & perfect the list of freeholders & the value of 
their property." Other towns were fined in like manner. The last 
Wednesday in October was appointed " to be solemnly observed as a day 
of public thanksgiving to the Lord (for renewed mercies) by all the planta- 
tions in Connecticut." A tax of a penny on a pound was ordered to be 
levied in all the plantations, to defray the debts of the colony; to be paid, 
three-fourths in wheat and peas, and one-fourth in Indian corn or meal. 

In the month of April there assembled at Fairfield, all the chief 
sachems of the Indians living in the town and its vicinity. Although they 
had made sale of their lands to the town through Roger Ludlow in 1639 
and 1640, they could not fully realize that they had no further claim to the 
use of these lands, save the reservations set apart to them ; consequently 
from time to time they had laid claim to a considerable portion of the 
town. In imagination, a picture of the sachems of Pequonnock and Un- 
coway may be drawn, dressed in their wild costumes with feathers and 
beads, and an occasional one clad in an Englisman's coat or small-clothes, 
assembled with the magistrates and leading planters of Fairfield, under 
the grand old oak at Pequonnock, which stood until 1884 as a relic of the 
past, in defiance of time and the storms of more than two centuries. 
Under this tree, tradition states, that the red sons of the forest gathered 
to deed by twig and turf their first sale of lands to the English. And here 
perhaps they again assembled, or it may have been on the Meeting-house 
Green, on the 20th of March, to renew the sale of their lands to the 
English. After debating the limits of their reservations, and the bounds of 
the English lands, and again in return receiving supplies of English cloth, 
pots, kettles, looking-glasses, scissors, knives, hatchets, hoes and spades, 
they affixed their quaint signatures to the following deed. 

DEED OF PEQNONNOCK & UNCOWAY. 

Whereas there have been several Indians who have made claime to much of ye land 
yt ye Town of Fairfield have & doe possess, ye Town o( Fairfield having taken ye matter 
into consideration, ordered & appointed Alexandre Knowles, Henry Jackson, Francis 
Purdy, with several others, should treat with Poquanuck Indians concerning, & upon 
ye treaty with those Indians, whose names are underwritten in ye behalf of all ye Poquan- 



94 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1656 

uck Indians, they have agreed as followeth : First, they owne ye land y' ye Town is 
built upon, from ye Creeke yt ye Tide-mill of Fairfield, South Westward is called Sasqua 
which they owne, have been purchased from ye Indians, & is now ye Englishe's Land : 
Secondly, ye sd. Indians have acknowledged, consented to & granted yt all that tract of 
land which they call Unceway (which is from the above sd. Creek Eastward unto ye bounds 
between Fairfield & Stratford) from ye sea, to run into ye Country seven or eight Miles : 
for ye future it shall bee ye land & propriety of ye Inhabitants of ye Town of Fairfield : 
Giveing & granting to ye sd. Town of Fairfield all ye above sd. tract of Land called Unce- 
way with all yeCreekes, Rivers, Ponds, Woods & privileges thereto belonging or apper- 
taining to bee to ye sd. Fairfield, ye Inhabitants thereof & to their heirs forever, quietly 
to enjoy & possesse it : & they doe promise & engage yt neither they nor their heirs, 
nor any other Indians shall for ye future molest or trouble ye sd. English in ye quiet pos- 
session of ye sd. land: Only it is to bee noted ytyefeild which ye Indians now possesse, 
called ye Indian feild, which is a small neck of land or ye other side of ye Creek, is 
excepted, ye Indians still keeping their propriety in that small neck or feild : ye Indians are 
to have ye priviledge of killing deer within ye above sd. tract of land : only they are not to 
set any traps within yesd. tract of land : In witness -of all which ye sd. Indians have here- 
unto set to their hands this 20* March, 1656. 

Whereas ye above sd. Land is granted to ye town of Fairfield by ye sd. Indians, we 
also manifest o"' respects unto them, yt wee doe engage upon sufficient warning, to cart 
them their stuffe for them to erect & build a fort, & upon this consideration ye sd. 
Indians have acknowledged ye above grant. 

Umpeter Nosset, X his mark. 
Nimrod, or Pocunnoe, X his mark. 
Matamuck, X his mark. 
Authonyes, alias Lotashau, X his mark. 
Washau, X his mark. 
Signed & delivered in presence & witnesses of us, 

Alexander Knowles. Nathan Gold. 

Thomas Pell. George Hull. 

Henry Jackson. 
This is a true copy according to the original, compared by me & recorded this 
25. February, 1685. 

Nathan Gold, Recorder.* 

This deed embraced all the lands lying west of the Stratford bounds, 
near the Pequonnock river, to the Sasco river, which runs between the 
Sasqua or Sasco fields and Frost point ; and north seven or eight miles 
into the country. At the May election Andrew Ward and George Hull 
were chosen deputies to the General Court ; Ensign Nathan Gold was 

* Book A, Town Deeds, p. 437. 

It has been thought by some that Old Fort was situated on or near the requonnock River ; but 
as that part of Pequonnock belonged to Stratford, the above deed of the purchase of that part of 
Pequonnock west of Mutton lane and Golden-hill, with the testimony of William Wheeler's 
journal, who received his information from his grandfather, locates this fort on the creek running , 
out of Black Rock harbor. 



1656] WARS AND RUMORS OF WARS 95 

appointed by the General Court to be an assistant of the particular court 
for the town of Fairfield. The assistants and clerks of the train bands of 
Fairfield and the neighboring towns were given authority " to examine & 
censure all defects of arms ; " " upon training days, both in coming late or 
otherwise, & to excuse or punish for the same." The Indians throughout 
Connecticut gave a great deal of trouble this year. Uncas, while a firm 
friend to the English, was mischievous, and with his natural savage love of 
war, had haughtily made attacks upon the tribes in his vicinity. He chal- 
lenged the Narragansctts to fight with him, and finally joined with Ninigret 
and his allies. He so endangered his life by these rash acts, that the General 
Court was obliged to send a force to protect him from the fury of the 
Narragansctts. In retaliation the Narragansctts plundered the houses of 
the English. 

The commissioners with great trouble managed to keep the peace, by 
obliging Uncas to make restitution to the Indians he had wronged, for his 
haughty and unwarranted behavior, prohibiting him from making war 
without their consent. Major Mason was sent with a detachment of 
troops to Long Island to establish peace between the Indians and the 
English. Fairfield and the towns adjacent were constantly alarmed by 
the piratical excursions both of the white and Indian marauders. To 
encourage digging pits into which the prowling wolves might fall unawares 
at night, in October " a law was enacted " by the General Court that if 
either an Englishman or Indian should molest or take wolves from one of 
these pits, whereby they would defraud any lawful owner of the pits of a 
reward from the town in which he lived, they should " pay to the owner of 
the pit 10% or be whipped on their naked bodies, not exceeding six stripes." 
A famous place for making these pits was at Pequonnock, on a neck of 
land lying south-east of Golden-hill, near Greenlea or Seaside park, which 
received the name of " Wolves pit plainy The court ordered that each 
town should carefully place upon record for the benefit of their posterity, 
" the most memorable passages of God's providence in settling and hitherto 
continuing his people in this country." Committees for this purpose were 
appointed for the river towns. Thomas Pell and Andrew Ward were 
appointed for Fairfield and the seaside. 

The commissioners met this year at Plymouth. A letter was read from 
Governor Stuyvesant, informing them of his joy at the happy peace estab- 
lished between the Dutch and English " in these remote parts of the earth." 
After expressing a warm desire for a nearer alliance between the two 
nations, he concluded his epistle by stating "that he had received a ratifi- 
cation of the agreement made at Hartford in 1650, under the seal of the 



96 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1657 

High & Mighty States of the United Belgick provinces; & desired that 
time & place might be appointed for deHvering & interchanging the 
ratifications." The commissioners returned no very favorable reply to 
the Dutch governor, nor did they express any great desire for a nearer 
alliance. A list of the persons and estates in the colony was presented to 
this court. The number of freeholders at Fairfield is left a blank, but the 
sum total of the value of the estates was ;^iO,553, 4s. The freemen of 
the town at this time numbered about one hundred. A tax of three 
farthings on the pound was levied on the towns, to be paid by virtue of 
the treasurer's warrants to the constable, half in wheat and half in peas. 
A day of general thanksgiving " for the occurrences of many mercies the 
year past," was appointed in the latter part of October, 

At a General Court held on the 26th of February, a committee was 
appointed to join with the magistrates "to give the best & safest advice 
to the Indians." 

A tax of a penny on the pound was levied on the towns to defray the 
expenses of the colony. The court required that all who desired to be 
made freemen should receive a certificate signed by the major part of the 
deputies in each town " of their peaceable & honest conversation." Only 
those whom the General Court approved were to be made free. 

The subject of games was brought before the court at this time. 
" Cards, dice, tables or any other games, wherein that grate & solemn 
ordinance of a Lofi " (lottery) were forbidden, under a penalty of 20s. 
apiece for every such offense. Every head of a family who indulged in or 
allowed such games in his house, was fined 20^-. a game ; one third part to 
be paid to the informer, and the remainder to the public treasury. Lotteries 
were frequently resorted to in colonial days, especially in the divisions of 
lands and sales of lands for public and benevolent purposes. But, " games 
of money or estate by games, be the games what they will," were regarded 
" a sinful violation, of the laws of honesty & industry, which God has given 
us. . . ." Public lotteries were approved when the people were oppressed 
with taxes and debt, and were called parliainentary lotteries. Private lot- 
teries were denounced, being designed merely for private ends and advan- 
tages, and therefore sinful and dangerous, " and a cheat upon the public." 

Nathan Gold was nominated to be made a magistrate or one of the 
judges of the General Court. Since Ludlow left Fairfield an apathy 
had crept over the town, such as is experienced when a great man, who 
has been a leader in a community, has been removed ; and for the first 
few years there appeared to be no one to take his place. Meanwhile 
Nathan Gold had gradually won the confidence of the people. He had 



1658] WARS AND RUMORS OF WARS 97 

been the town clerk, a judge of the sea-side courts, had proved an efficient 
captain in the train band ; and had gradually become known to the outside 
public. From this time he became the leading spirit of the town. He was 
made an assistant of the General Court at the May election, and at the 
same time was appointed lieutenant of the militia of Fairfield. 

Michael Try and John Wheeler were elected deputies from Fairfield, 
and Nehemiah Olmstead and Robert Lockwood were made sergeants of 
the town militia. A law was passed that no leather should be sold without 
first having been sealed or labeled in the town where it was tanned, under 
a penalty of a jury trial and fine ; and, if found defective, the sealer was 
given power to fine or seize it. Raw hides were not allowed to be sold 
out of the colony under a forfeiture of the hide. Goodman Graves and 
Goodman Fairchild were appointed leather sealers for Fairfield. Authority 
was given to the assistants either at Fairfield, Stratford, or Norwalk, to 
extend the limits of those towns. The value of the estates given into the 
court in October from Fairfield, amounted to ^11,410, i.y. 

At the annual meeting of the commissioners of the united colonies 
in September, messengers were dispatched to the Narragansetts, Nehan- 
tics, and Mohegans, to inform them that if they would desist from fighting 
against each other and in the English plantations, they would settle their 
quarrel peaceably for them, and without partiality. They reminded them 
of the past league between them and the English ; and that they had 
agreed to bring before the commissioners their grievances, to be settled 
without going to war. In spite of all that had been done for the Indians 
on Long Island, the Montaukets had turned their weapons of war against 
the English in the settlements on the Island. Major Mason was sent with 
a body of men to inquire into the trouble which had arisen, and to demand 
satisfaction of their sachem, according to the articles of agreement he had 
made with the English. 

At a General Court held at Hartford March i6th, the first cavalry force, 
consisting of thirty horsemen, was established in Connecticut."^^ Robert 
Beachem (Rcuchamp), formerly of Norwalk, was given liberty to settle at 
Bankside. Alexander Knowles, of Fairfield, was nominated to be made 
a magistrate of the General Court. At the May election Alexander 
Knowles was made an assistant of the General Court. John Wheeler and 
Cornelius Hull were chosen deputies. All sea-faring men were for the 

* Col. Rec. Conn. I., 309 The New Haven colony on the i6th of May following ordered 
that New Haven, Milford, Stamford, Guilford, and Branford should be provided with sixteen 
horses, and all other necessaries towards raising a small troop for the service of the country. — New 
Haven Col, Rec. H., 173. 
7 



98 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1658 

future freed from training. The time and place of the general training day 
of the militia was, by an order of the court, left to Major Mason to appoint. 
The three particular training days usually held in the latter part of the 
year in the plantations before the general training day, were merged into 
a grand vmstcr, which was to last two days. * Wednesday, the 8th of 
September, v/as appointed a day of solemn prayer and fasting in all the 
towns, " to implore the favor of God towards his people, in regard of the 
intemperate season, thin harvest, sore visitation by sickness in several 
plantations ; & the sad prolonged differences y' yet remain unreconciled 
in churches & plantations & that God would succeed such means as 
are appointed to be attended for the healing of the foresaid differences." 

Great sickness and mortality had prevailed during the spring and sum- 
mer of this year throughout New England. Religious controversies ran 
high. The Indians continued their war, which the commissioners failed in 
their utmost endeavors to prevent. " The crops were light, & it was a year 
of perplexity & sorrow." Upon the motion of Mr. Andrew Ward in regard 
to the estates of deceased persons, the court appointed him, with William 
Hill of Fairfield, to assist Mr. John Wells and Judge Camfield in proving 
wills, appointing administrators, taking inventories, and distributing the 
estates of persons who died intestate. 

The valuation of the list of estates at Fairfield this year amounted to 
i^ 10, 509, 13^". A rate of a penny on the pound was levied on all the estates 
in the colony, for public expenses. In case of a sudden attack by the 
Indians or other enemy upon any town in the colony, the chief military 
officers were given authority to order out the militia of their own or 
any of the neighboring towns, if occasion should so require. The first 
Wednesday in November was appointed "a public thanksgiving day for 
England's great victories & preservation ; & for the mercies of God to us 
in our continued peace, & the abatement of the sore sickness " in the New 
England plantations. 

The following movement this year by the General Court is of interest: 

" The Court approves the pious care of the Town of Fairfield in procuring help for Mr. 
Joanes by his own consent thereto, as far as appears by a paper presented by their 
Deputies to this Court, to order, that according to their desires the foresaid paper be kept 
among the Court papers, & desire the town not anyways thereupon to deprive their 
Reverend ancient Pastor, Mr. Joanes, in sickness or health of his comfortable maintenance." 

The army of Cromwell had conquered England, Ireland and Scotland. 
The famous battle of the Dunes had been fought on the 4th of June, before 
Dunkirk, where the Spaniards were totally routed, and Dunkirk given up to 

* Col. Rec. Conn. I., 315. 



1659] WARS AND RUMORS OF WARS 99 

Cromwell. On the 3d of September the English army gained the victories 
of Dunbar and Worcester, On the same day, which was his birthday, died 
Oliver Cromwell in the 60th year of his age. He had ruled England for 
nine years under the title of the Lord Protector. In his dying moments 
he appointed his weak and inefficient son Richard to succeed hvn, who was 
immediately declared the new protector. 

The sale of liquor to the Indians this year was left to the discretion of 
the magistrates of the towns. A law was passed, that for the future the 
names of persons to be made free should be presented to the General 
Court, and that none should be made freemen until they had attained the 
age of twenty-one, and owned thirty pounds of personal estate, or had 
been in office in the colony, and were men of an honest and peaceable con- 
versation. All such names were to be presented at the October term of 
court, " to prevent tumult & trouble at the General Election." Duties 
were laid upon wines or liquor brought into the colony at the rate of 20s. 
for a butt of wine, and five shillings for every anchor of liquor. Custom- 
house officers were ordered to be chosen in the several towns, to record 
the receipt of customs. William Hill was appointed to this duty at 
Fairfield. All private persons were forbidden to sell liquor under a fine. 

Any person found under the influence of liquor "in a private house" 
was fined 20s. for every such transgression ; and the owner of the house 
made subject to a fine of \0S. The constables were required to make dili- 
gent search for all such offenders. Corn or malt was forbidden to be dis- 
tilled into liquor. In the month of March the General Court ordered that 
each town in the colony should provide its mills " with a toll-dish of just a 
quart, also a pottle-dish of two quarts, a pint dish, and an instrument to 
strike with, fit for the purpose," all of which should be sealed by the sealers 
of weights and measures. At the May election Lieutenant Nathan Gold 
was chosen a magistrate to attend the General Court, and Cornelius Hull 
and John Wheeler deputies. For some time a strife had existed between 
Fairfield and Stratford about 'the care of the Pequonnock Indians. Strat- 
ford claimed that they belonged to Fairfield, which Fairfield resented on 
the ground that they were not within the limits of the town. A petition, 
dated March 7th, was carried to the General Court for a final settlement of 
the dispute by the deputies from Fairfield. They represented that Fair- 
field was much straightened in land, on account of the Bankside farmers 
encroaching on their western limits; that they were obliged to provide for 
their own Indians, and therefore ought not to have the care of the Pequon- 
nock Indians laid upon them ; that the lands claimed by the Pequonnock 
Indians at Golden-liill belonged to that tribe, they having reserved it to 



lOO HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1659 

themselves from the beginning of the settlements. They represented that 
there were about four hundred Indians to be cared for. They said that 
Henry Wakeley of Pequonnock complained that Fairfield oppressed Strat- 
ford with their Indians ; and that Mr. Ludlow, in petitioning for the 
largeness of the early bounds of the town, " alleged that there were many 
Indians to provide for T They said that Stratford claimed the greatest part 
of the Pequonnock lands upon which the Indians lived. Finally, they left 
the Indians to plead for their rights themselves. 

It appears that some of the planters of Stratford had encroached upon 
the Golden-hill reservation, which caused great dissatisfaction among the 
Pequonnock Indians. On account of these encroachments, they com- 
plained that they had not enough planting land to supply them with corn, 
etc., for their families. At the same time they refused to move from 
Golden-hill. The court decided that Golden-hill lawfully belonged to the 
Pequonnock Indians, and ordered " that according unto the desire of the 
Indians, that they may quietly possess & enjoy from henceforth & for the 
future, all that parcel of land called Gold-Hill ; " that a committee should 
be immediately appointed to lay out land for their benefit at Fairfield ; 
and that the committee should lay out as much land in Fairfield for the 
use and accommodation of the Stratford planters " as might be most con- 
venient for them, equal in quantity & quality to the Golden-hill lands." 
In case the Stratford men were unwilling to accept of the lands set off for 
them in Fairfield, the committee were to decide " how much & in what 
kind " the inhabitants of Fairfield should pay Stratford by way of satisfac- 
tion. Finally it was concluded *' that, the land called Gold Hill surren- 
dered by Stratford unto the Pequonnock Indians — shall from henceforth be 
accounted full satisfaction for them unto the Indians; " and that neither 
they nor their successors should make any further claims or demands of 
land from Stratford; but from that time they should be "accounted 
Fairfield Indians," and to be provided for by the inhabitants of that town. 
It was also ordered that if the Pequonnock Indians should at any time 
relinquish or desert Gold-hill, the land should return to the Stratford plan- 
tation, which should pay back to Fairfield one-half of the sum they had 
received for the said land. Mathew Camfield, Mr. Fitch, Richard Olm- 
stead and Nathaniel Ely, of Norwalk, were appointed a committee to 
bound out eighty acres at Gold-hill, " beginning at the foot of y* hill where 
y* wigwams stood, & so to run upward on the hill, & within Fairfield 
bounds as above mentioned, & to return what they did in the matter 
to the next General Court." The assistants or magistrates of the towns 
were given power to make attachments, levy rates, to grant replevins, to 



1659] WARS AND RUMORS OF WARS 401 

punish drunkenness, lying and theft " within their precincts according to 
law." 

Magistrates were amenable only to the General Court for any error 
committed. The 29th of June was appointed to be kept a day of fasting 
and prayer " partly for England & partly for our own Country in regard 
to the unsettled state of affairs in both places ... & partly for the 
season ; . . . that God may prevent evils that may be feared, & that 
He would bless the religious counsels of the colonies, & bring them to a 
good issue." The unhappy state of affairs in England at the time of 
Cromwell's death had resulted in the early withdrawal of his son from the 
position his father and the army had bestowed upon him. 

The New England colonies greatly feared that King Charles II. would 
be placed upon the throne of England, The favor which they had received 
from Cromwell both in political and ecclesiastical affairs, relieved them for 
the time being from the dread of a governor sent out from England, or of 
the yoke of Episcopacy. Prince Charles had been acknowledged king by 
Scotland and Ireland in 1650; and it was known that there existed in 
England, especially in the army, a strong party in his favor. 

The Long Parliament had been summoned, and had been made to give 
way to the old Rump Parliament. Generals Monk, Lambert and others 
had been appointed to command the army. Ambition on the part of the 
political and military leaders resulted in the office of the Protector, the 
Parliament and the army being arrayed against each other. Meanwhile 
the royalists, taking advantage of the situation, resolved on a rise in several 
counties. The jails were filled by Parliament with their open or secret 
enemies. " Throughout the three kingdoms there prevailed nothing but 
melancholy fears ; among the nobility & gentry, of a bloody massacre & 
extermination ; for the rest of the people, a perpetual servitude beneath 
military despotism of the worst kind." It was under these circumstances 
that Fairfield and the other towns in Connecticut were called to spend a 
day in fasting and prayer. 

The list of freeholders and the value of their estates at Fairfield this 
year were : persons, 80 ; estates, ;^ 10,442. A tax of one and a half penny 
upon the pound was levied upon the town to defray the public expenses. 
" In consideration of God's goodness," the last day of November was 
appointed a day of public thanksgiving throughout the colony, " for y^ 
fruitful & seasonable harvest, & ye general restoration of health to y' 
plantations." 



CHAPTER III 

1660 — 1670 

PROGRESS OF FAIRFIELD 

Prosperity of Fairfield. — Military laws. — Change in the Constitution for the election of governors. 
— Pequonnock Indians. — First cavalry force of Fairfield. — Thanksgiving. — Patent desired. — 
Affairs in England. — Fairfield's acknowledged allegiance to Charles II. — Annual tax. — Sasqua 
lands. — Rate of dividend. — Town ofificers. — James Beers. — Freemen. — Indian deed of Sas- 
qua. — Assistants and deputies of 1661. — Norwalk and Stratford bounds. — Schools. — Efforts 
to obtain a charter. — Tax. — Wolves. — Leather sealers. — Assistants and deputies of 1662. — 
Corn and tobacco. — Cavalry drill. — Fence committee. — Richard Ogden's mill. — The charter. 
— Stamford. — Captain John Youngs. — Salary of troopers. — Free trade. — Burning fields. — 
Trouble with New Haven. — John Adams. — Assistants and deputies of 1663. — Particular 
Courts at Fairfield. — Boundary. — Watchmen. — Indians forbidden to enter towns at night. — 
New Haven and New Amsterdam. — Rights of town officers. — Henry Rowland, tavern keeper. 
— Thomas Pell's purchase of Westchester, etc. — Grant to the Duke of York. — Captain John 
Scott. — Public fast. — Fleet from England to reduce the Dutch. — Surrender of the Dutch. — 
Ecclesiastical liberties. — Union with New Haven colony. — War between England and Hol- 
land. — Pounds. — Rev. Samuel Wakeman. — List of estates. — Superior Courts at Hartford. — 
The King favors Connecticut. — Bankside farmers. — Fairfield county. — Property taken for 
debts. — Bears. — Fairfield to prepare troops, militia and vessels for the war. — Peace between 
England, France and Holland. — Public thanksgiving. — Strangers not to live in Fairfield. — 
Town notes. — County prisons — Grant of land to Major Nathan Gold. — County troops. — 
Ecclesiastical assembly and committee. — Assistants and deputies of 1669. — Riding pace. — 
Lawful measures. 

The third decade in the history of Fairfield opens with events of 
considerable importance to the town. Its growth within the last ten 
years had been rapid, both in population and wealth, and it was fast 
becoming the leading town of the western part of the Connecticut colony. 
It was the center of navigation, and of the county courts. Its exports of 
grain and timber were large ; and the planters began to realize what it 
was to be in ea.sy circumstances. The Indians, however, were proving 
more mischievous and dangerous than ever ; th'eir carriage was insolent 
and defiant ; but, since the troubles with the Dutch, the town had kept a 
well-organized militia for its defense. 

On the assembling of the General Court in February, a law was passed 
giving the military officers of each town power to call out and appoint as 
many of the train-bands annually as the order of the court required for 
each plantation, to attend the public meetings, provided no one person 
was cornpelled to keep guard more than one year.* 

* Col. Rec. Conn., I., 344 



i66o] PROGRESS OF FAIRFIELD IO3 

In April, the General Court took into consideration the wisdom of 
altering the fourth provision of the Constitution, respecting the election of 
a governor for the term of two years only. They recommended for the 
approval of the freemen of the colony, that the number of }'ears should 
not be limited. They also " ordered the secretary to insert the same in 
the warrants for the choice of deputies," and requested that the returns 
of the freemen from remote plantations shoukl be made by proxies 
through the deputies of the towns. Thus the long journeys to attend the 
elections at Hartford were avoided. At the May election. Lieutenant 
Nathan Gold was elected one of the magistrates of the General Court, and 
John Wheeler and Cornelius Mull were chosen deputies from Fairfield. 
Immediately after the election the change submitted to the freemen was 
made. It was voted " that the particular in y^ 4"" law respecting the 
choice of the governor should be altered, & that for the future there 
shall be liberty of a free choice yearly, either of the same person or 
another, as may be thought meet, without prejudice to >'^ law or breach 
thereof."*' 

The committee appointed to set off eighty acres on Golden-hill to the 
Pequonnock Indians, made a report to the court, that they had settled 
the bounds of the reservation according to their instructions ; and included 
the reservation within the limits of Fairfield ; and also that Fairfield had 
paid twenty pounds to Stratford for the said land. A law was passed 
"that neither an Indian nor a negro servant should be required to train, 
watch or ward in the colony." The price of sheep in the list of rates was 
ordered to be reckoned at i $s. per head. Jehu Burr was appointed a grand 
juror, to inquire into the misdemeanor and breaches of the laws at Fair- 
field. A law was paased that no Indian should be allowed to dwell within 
a quarter of a mile of any town in the colony ; nor any strange Indian be 
entertained in any one of the towns, under a penalty of 40^". a month. 
Guns carried into the towns by Indians were liable to be seized and not 
redeemed under a penalty of lOJ". No Indian was allowed to dwell in the 
towns '' except he was known to be of an honest conversation, & accepted 
by a major part of the town ;" nor were they allowed to sell their lands or 
houses without the consent of the towns in which they lived. Liberty 
was granted to Fairfield, Stratford and Norwalk to gather out of the three 
towns "a small cavalry troop of horse, with two meet officers added to 
exercise them, of their own choosing ; & the troopers to be such as are 
approved by Lieutenant Nathan Gold, Mr. Fairchild & Mr. Camfield ; the 
officers to be approved by the General Court. And for proportion they 

* Col. Rec, Conn., I., 347. 



I04 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1660 

are to take 7 out of Stratford, 7 out of Fairfield, & 4 out of Norwalk." * 
This was the first cavalry force of Fairfield. Lieutenant Nathan Gold, 
William Hill, Judges Alexander Knowles and Camfield, were appointed to 
settle the difference between the Norwalk inhabitants and the Indians in 
that place. 

In the month of October a final settlement was made with the heirs of 
Mr. Fen wick, in regard to the purchase of the Say brook fort and the 
Connecticut patent. The annual tax laid upon all the towns in the colony 
towards purchasing the fort and the old Connecticut patent, had been a 
heavy drain upon the treasury. A considerable uneasiness existed in the 
colony after Mr. Fenwick's death, on account of this purchase not having 
been settled, or a formal quit-claim of the fort and charter made over to 
the colony. The question had been agitated from time to time, and at 
the May election the court had ordered a strict investigation to be made 
into the true value of all estates within the colony, in order that a final 
payment might be made to Mr. John Cullick and Elizabeth his wife, the 
heirs of Mr. Fenwick. A committee was appointed for this purpose, and 
at the assembling of the General Court in October, they reported that 
they had prepared the accounts of the colony for a final settlement. The 
court then ordered them to draw up proper instruments towards perfect- 
ing the sale, to which the governor was authorized to affix the colonial 
seal. On the 7th of October the long desired settlement was made with 
Mr. John Cullick and his wife, the heirs of Mr. Fenwick, who gave a full 
discharge to the colony of Connecticut " for all sums of money due to the 
said Fenwick, his heirs or assigns, by virtue of the agreement made with 
Mr. Fenwick or purchase of the river's mouth." At the final investigation 
of the committee, it was discovered that the colony had paid Mr. Fenwick 
and his heirs five hundred pounds over and above the original agreement. 
This was an important event for the Connecticut colony, and one which 
gave great satisfaction to all the towns in the jurisdiction. Wednesday, 
the 4th of October, was set apart as a day " of public thanksgiving to God 
for his mercy in our Peace, Plenty, Health & Liberties that we enjoy." 

The leading gentlemen in the colony were aware that they did not in 
reality possess any of the lands within the colony bounds, except such as 
were included in the old patent ; and while they now held a legal claim 
from the heirs of Mr. Fenwick to this patent, they had no confirmation of 
the same from England. To gain this most desirable end now became 
their chief aim, and no more favorable opportunity had presented itself 
than the condition of political affairs in England. The ambitious conten- 

"" Col. Rec. Conn., I., 351. 



i66ij PROGRESS OF FAIRFIELD I05 

tions between Parliament and the army resulted in the ascendancy of the 
army ; and General Monk, who was in supreme command, conceived it to 
be a fitting opportunity to invite Prince Charles to return to the throne of 
his father. A new Parliament was summoned on the 25th of April, 1660, 
which was called the Convention Parliament. On the 27th a motion was 
made for the restoration of the king. On the 8th of May Charles II. was 
proclaimed king in the palace yard of Whitehall, and at Temple Bar. 
General Monk advanced to meet him at Dover, and attended him to 
London, where, on the 29th of May, which was his birthday, amid the 
wildest enthusiasm and acclamations, he received the greetings of his 
people. 

When this news reached New England it was universally resolved by 
the magistrates and freemen of the Connecticut colony, to acknowledge 
their allegiance to the king, and declare themselves " his loyal & faithful 
subjects. And do further include if necessary, that we should humbly 
petition his Majesty for grace & favour, & for ye continuance & confor- 
mation of such privileges & Liberties as are necessary, for the comfortable 
& peaceable settlement of the colony." It was voted, that the five 
hundred pounds, which Captain John Cullick was to return to the colony, 
should be improved towards purchasing -a new^ patent. 

Fairfield, Stratford, and Norwalk failed to send in their list of estates, 
consequently the court ordered the treasurer " to summon the delinquents 
to answer for their transgression." He was also ordered to send warrants 
to the seaside plantations, to gather their rates " at such seasons as might 
prevent the inconvenience that usually falls out, in failing of their pay- 
ments." The prospect of obtaining a new charter stimulated the plant- 
ers to make provisions for distributing their town lands, and settling their 
boundaries. At a town meeting held at Fairfield, January 3, it was voted, 
that there should be a new planting field in the Sasqua fields, "to accom- 
modate all such inhabitants as were in need of land over ye Mill river 
above Crecroes brook, upon ye neck there." To such inhabitants as 
desired land, six acres were allowed to a family, and as much more or less 
as they pleased. The planters were not to receive these lands as their 
own, but to have the use of them for ten years. At the end of that time 
they were to seed them down as common lands. It was also voted that 
the fields under improvement should be fenced ; and that those who 
neglected to fence their fields should forfeit them to others who would. 
That partiality might not be shown, it was agreed that the fields should 
be drawn by a lottery. A committee was appointed to lay out the great 
fields, and also each planter's field ; and the planters were to pay them 



I06 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1661 

for their trouble. At the same town meeting, Henry Jackson, George 
Squire, and John Wheeler were appointed to lay out the lands on the east 
side of the Uncoa creek ; and Jehu Burr and Cornelius Hull were " to lay 
out the common highways in the great field & nicadozv on the west side 
of the Uncoa creek." It has already been mentioned that the planters 
living on either side of the centre of Fairfield, were called the east and 
west farmers. At a town meeting, held on the 20th of January, it was 
voted that three hundred and twenty acres of land snould be laid out in 
proportion as follows: "To a master of a family half an acre; to a 
wife a quarter of an acre, to a child a quarter of an acre, & to every hun- 
dred pounds estate two acres, & so proportionally either more or less." 
Jehu Burr, Thomas Staples, John Banks and William Ward, were 
appointed a committee to lay out the large fields at both ends of the 
town, and each family's proportion of land. Every head of a family was 
ordered to carry in to the town recorder, the number of his children and 
their ages within a week, under a penalty of forfeiting the land due to 
such children. At a town meeting, held on the lOth of February, Lieu- 
tenant Nathan Gold, William Hill, Jehu Burr, Alexander Knowles, John 
Burr, William Ward and John Banks, were chosen townsmen for the year. 
Nathaniel Seeley was chosen town marshal, and William Hill recorder. 
John Banks and Cornelius Hull were appointed to measure each man's 
dividend of land at the further end of Sasco neck, both upland and meadow, 
" & if land enough was found, to lay out a high way there." They were 
given power to exchange lands among the planters, and to make a report 
of the common or undivided lands within the township. " Eight acres 
was confirmed to James Beers, that the Indians gave him in Sasco field or 
Southport." 

At a town meeting, held on the loth of February, it was voted : 
" Whereas the inhabitants of the town have this day drawn lots for a divi- 
dend, y^ lots to begin on land next to Daniel Frost's farm in Sasco field ; 
& so to run from his land eastward, until ye land already surveyed at Sasco 
be laid out. And from thence to y" land surveyed at the place called 
Mr. Gold's meadow ; & from thence to y^ land surveyed at Old Pequon- 
nock." If any planter did not like his dividend in the two last places, he 
was at liberty to throw it up and take another place, " provided he did not 
take land nearer to the meeting-house than where his dividend fell." It 
was voted that these lands should be given up at the end of eight instead 
of ten years, after *' sowing them with hay seed." Jehu Burr and John 
Banks were appointed to lay out each man's proportion of land. Nathan- 
iel Seeley and Sergeant George Squire were appointed to lay out the east 



i66i] PROGRESS OF FAIRFIELD lO/ 

field, and Joshua and John Knovvles the west field. On the I2th of Feb- 
ruary, the townsmen voted that ten acres of upland, which the town had 
exchanged with Lieutenant Nathan Gold, and six acres of hassock or salt 
meadow, should be laid out to belong to the town mill, for the use of the 
miller. This upland is the hill on the south-cast side of the present Black 
Rock bridge, called the Old Mill-hill. It was voted that the town should 
employ a, man to farm the land, and to run the mill, who was allowed the 
sixteenth part of the grist, which was usually called the toll. 

Owing to frequent shooting at marks, " it was ordered that a fine of 
TO®- should be exacted of every one who should shoot within a mile of the 
town, except towards the sea," half to the informer and the other half to 
the town. 

A fine of 15^". a head was laid upon any one who should turn cattle or 
hogs into the new planting fields without a keeper, before the field was 
broken up. A new pound was ordered to be erected at the town's 
expense, and the old one disposed of to the best advantage. By an act of 
the General Court, all grants, sales of lands or mortgages were only made 
legal by the signature or mark of the grantor — with that of two witnesses 
attached, which should also be recorded. A law giving one magistrate 
power to commit persons to prison without bail was repealed, and the 
recorder was cautioned to secure the interests of the grantee until the 
issue had been decided by a legal trial. A lawful record of any grant 
bargain, sale, or mortgage, was made binding, provided (if no written deed, 
was made) " it was witnessed by one witness & the recorder.* 

At a freemen's meeting, held the last Tuesday in April " at Fairfield, 
Robert Silliman, Jr., James Burrs, Samuel Bradley, Jr., Thomas Harvey, 
Ebenezer Lyon, & Eliphalet Hill were made freemen, & took the freeman's 
oath." The first Wednesday in April was appointed a day of fasting and 
prayer " to seek the favor of God in y« occasions of ye ensueing yeare ; 
& y' Gotl would direct us in those ways that may conduce to our settle- 
ment in peace & privileges; & that peace & truth may be settled in 
England." According to the grant of the General Court in 1649, that 
the west bounds of Fairfield should extend to within two miles of the 
Saugatuck river, a formal quit-claim deed was taken from the Maxu- 
mux and Sasqua Indians on the 20th of March. As the Norwalk 
Indians laid claim to a right in these lands, a quit-claim deed was 
received from them on the nth of April. The following deeds copied 
from Letter A of Fairfield Town Deeds, gives the names of the chief 
sachems of Sasqua, Maxumux and Norwalk at that time. 

*Co]. Rec. Conn., I., 358. 



I08 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1661 

DEED OF SASQUA. 

Know all men by these presents, yt wee whose names are underwritten, have sold, & 
doe by these presents, sell, alienate & assigne over unto ye Inhabitants of Fairefield, all 
thet tract of land commonly called Sasqua, bounded on ye north-east with ye land called 
Uncaway, on ye south-west with ye land at Maximus, ye line on southwest runs close to 
ye English farmes at Maximus, & this tract of land is for run from ye sea strait up into 
the country six miles at ye least, taking in all ye land yt lye within that length south-west 
to sd bounds, between us & ye farmes, (or — if Sasqua land run on ye farme's mile, yt 
land also to be included,) & doe to close with ye land yt we purchased of Poquonock 
Indians, as by a writing made und"^ their hand. Dated ye 20* March 1656: ye Inhabi- 
tants of Fairfield, they & their heirs, are to possesse & enjoy this land forever, in as free 
& full a manner as wee have done : we have sold all ye above s'^ tract of land, with all 
ye priviledges appurtenances, as Rivers, trees, ponds or whatever privilidges thereunto 
pertaining to ye said Inhabitants, for a consideration yt. fully satisfies us; only we will 
have liberty of hunting in ye woods, — only we are to set noe traps within ye six mile: 
Wee also acknowledge yt we are true proprietors of ye above s'^ land : We also 
acknowledge wee haven given in ye Indian field before this sale, eight acres of 
land to James Beers, in witness of all which we have hereunto set to ye hands this 
20. March i6|?. 

It is also provided yt if in future time Sasqua Indians, ye property partains to them 
or their children, if they should want some land to plant on, ye town of Fairfield is to 
allow them some land to plant on for their livelyhood within their bounds, in such 
places as they shall appoint, & ye s'^ Indians Doe also sell liberty to ye town of Fair- 
field, to bee commoners in all their land beyond the above s<^ six miles : ye Indians are 
to fence their land sufficiently : In witness of all ye above s<J, ye s'^ Indians, have here- 
unto set their hands this 20. March 163 "- 

Witnessed : Musquot X his mark Panuncamo X his mark 

Nim X rods marke Solamorton's ) v u- i James alias ) ^^ ,- i 

A tu • X' I T~. h X his mark n^t , ^ v X his mark 

Anthony s X mk Poppoos ( Wotussawatum f 

Tospee X his mark Cramheag's Squaw ) 

Witteren X his mark Solamorten's Sister v X his mark. 

Wissahoes ) 

These 4 names subscribed Wompegan X his mark 
signed, ye witnesses wit- 
nessed, but they were 
here not present with 
them. 
We whose names are underwritten, being under age when this sale was made fully 
consent to ye above sd sale, as Witness our hand this 16* October 1679. 

Creconoes X mark 
Witness— William Hill, Recorder. Chickins X his mark. 

Robt. Bisburn 
John Basset 
John * Jones mk. 
This is a true copy according to ye originall record, 
& recorded by me this 25. Jan'^y 1685. 

Nathan Gold— Recorder. 
A, Town Deeds, p. 439. 
[Indorsed] Sasqua Deed, 20. March i6g?. 



i66i] PROGRESS OF FAIRFIELD lOQ 

Whereas there is a deed of sale written of Sasqua land, & ye Indians had showed ye 
English yt Sasqua did run west as farre as ye Muddy Creeke, & so to run into ye country; 
& whereas it doth now appear yt some of Norwalk Indians are ye true proprietors of part 
of this tract of land : this Day Being ye 1 1"^ of April 6i, ye sd Norwalk Indians & Sasqua 
Indians, both meeting together, have agreed : ye s^ Norwalk proprietors being contented 
with ye within sale of ye tract of land : shall he extended west as farr as ye Muddy 
Creek near Compo, & so to run up into ye Country unto Aspatuck river : & they doe by 
these presents acknowle yt all ye 5"^ land as far as ye Muddy Creeke shall for ye future 
partaine to ye inhabitants of Fairfield & to their heirs for ever : In witness whereof they 
have hereunto set their hands this ii'^ April 1661 : ye creek above called ye Muddy 
Creek : ye Indian's name is Werappamaucke 

Momechemen X mk 
Weenam X mk 
Tospee X mk 
Quanumscoes X mk 
Aucan X mk 
Wee whose names are underwritten doe acknowledge yt ye Indians have received thir- 
teen Coats, 2 yards apiece, & ye rest in Wampum, which is all yt Uncoway Englishmen 
were to pay them for ye Sasqua land, & as farre as ye Muddy Creeke. Witness o' hands 
this ii''» Aprill 1661 : 

Panoucamus X mk 
Witnesse Muskot X mk 

Mamachin X mk James X his mark. 

Weenam X mk 
The above are true copies wording to ye originall compared and Recorded by me, 

Nathan gold. Recorder 
This 25. of Feruary 1685.* 
[Indorsed] Sasqua Land — April 11. 1661 

The Bankside farmers were not at all pleased with what they con- 
sidered to be an unwarrantable liberty on the part of the town of Fairfield, 
in obtaining this grant from the General Court, as well as taking a formal 
purchase of the Indians, of whom they had previously purchased their 
lands. A contention arose between them and the town, which was not 
fully settled for nearly fifty years. 

In order that particular attention should be paid towards educating the 
children of the town, the following vote was passed : " Whereas the town 
hath formerly voted that the school master shall have ten pounds towards 
his wages out of the town rate, it is now ordered the fifty pounds that 
reinains of his wages, shall be paid by the masters & parents of such 
children as need teaching, from six years old & upwards. And if any 
shall send their children under six years, or girls, they shall be esteemed 
payable scholars. Sergeant Squire & Robert Turney are appointed to 

*A, Town Deeds, 672, 673. 



110 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1662 

go to each family in the town, & make trial what scholars are to be payable 
scholars to the school, & bring in a list of the names to the secretary, 
that there may be a rate made to pay the school master." This appears to 
have been the first and only school in the town, and was without doubt kept 
in the building used as a school and town house. The Rev. John Jones was 
probably the first school teacher, and Rev. Samuel Wakeman, who followed 
him, appears to have been a school teacher before he became a minister. 

At the annual election, Nathan Gold was chosen a magistrate of the 
General Court, and Jehu Burr and John Banks deputies.* Thomas Pell 
and Alexander Knowles were made assistants of the particular court at 
Fairfield, and if either of them declined to act, William Hill was to supply 
the office. The planters of Norwalk complained to the court of the Fair- 
field planters having trespassed upon their lands, and demanded twenty 
pounds damages, which was granted. John Banks of Fairfield, Richard 
Olmstead of Norwalk, and Joseph Judson of Stratford, were appointed 
to run a line from the south, northward to the extent of their bounds 
between Fairfield and Stratford, and also across the northern limits of the 
town. A petition, which Governor John Winthrop had prepared to send 
to the king of England, in reference to obtaining a charter, was read 
before the court and accepted. Governor Winthrop, deputy governor 
George Willis, Mr. Allin, secretary William Whiting, and the Rev. Messrs. 
Wareham, Stone, and Hooker were appointed a committee to complete 
the address and draw up a petition to be presented to his Majesty for a 
patent. Governor Winthrop was made an agent to go to England, and 
enlist the favor of Lord Say and Seale and certain other lords and nobles 
in favor of the petition ; and to present it to the king. A letter of credit 
was given him in June, to draw on five hundred pounds recovered from 
the Fenwick estate, towards defraying the expenses and obtaining the 
patent. A penny on the pound was levied on all estates to defray the 
general expenses of the colony. The list of estates in Fairfield this year 
amounted £10,42^,, 4s. 

The third Wednesday in October was " appointed to be kept a solemn 
Thanksgiving throughout the Colony for God's mercies in ye remaining 
fruits of the earth, & for peace, & that God is pleased to free us from 
ye mortality yt ye plantations have been afflicted with." The restraint 
placed upon Indians carrying guns through the town was annulled, pro- 
vided that not more than ten Indians at a time passed through any town. 

On the 6th of January, John Cable and John Banks were granted " all 
the waste meadow in the south-west-end, & in Sasco neck, which lay above 

*Col. Rec. Conn., I., 365, 366. 



i662] PROGRESS OF FAIRFIELD III 

a dam that it was proposed should be made, to prevent the tide from over- 
flowing the meadows." This dam was to be made over Pine-creek, with a 
sluice to draw out the fresh water above it. Any planter who wished to join 
in the enterprise, provided he performed an equal share in draining the creek 
and building the dam, was to share in the distribution of the salt meadows. 
If the dam should prove insufficient for the purpose, or be allowed 
to go to decay, the lands were to revert to the town. At a General 
Court, held on March 13th, fifteen shillings was allowed for every wolf killed 
within the limits of a town. Leather sealers were allowed iSs. for every 
dicker of scaled leather, 18^. half a dicker, and 4^/. a single hide. At the 
May election Lieutenant Nathan Gold was chosen an assistant in the 
General Court, and Cornelius Hull and Samuel Drake deputies. The first 
act of the court was to remove the export duty on corn. 

Owing to vessels bringing tobacco into the harbors of the colony, with- 
out paN'ing the lawful custom, under a pretense of waiting for the procla- 
mation of King Charles to his subjects in the colony, specially in regard to 
the transportation of tobacco to England and other countries, "a custom 
of 25^-. pr. hogshead or 2d. per pound was laid upon all merchants or 
masters of vessels " disposing of the weed. Instead of cavalry forces 
meeting in one body to drill, they were now allowed to be exercised with 
the militia under the calvary officers of the towns, unless some superior 
officer was present ; but on general training days, "they were to unite as 
one entire body of horse." Owing to too much tanned leather being 
carried out of the colony, it was ordered that none should be exported 
without an order from the court of magistrates, under a penalty of for- 
feiting the hides. Liberty was granted the town of Huntington, Long 
Island, which was admitted to the jurisdiction of Connecticut in May, 
[660, to appeal in civil actions to the particular courts of Fairfield or 
Stratford.* 

At a town meeting held in Fairfield, June 19, Richard Ogden was 
refused an application for a grant of four acres of land, for the use of the 
mill on Mill river. It was voted that the mill-dam and trench should be 
finished without delay. John Banks and William Ward wercappointed to 
oversee the work, and if needed to cause a new dam and trench to be made. 
Thomas Sherwood, being the miller of the new mill on Mill river, was 
allowed the toll of the grist until Ogden's mill was done, provided he kept 
the " running gear in order." Ogden 's mill was completed in October, and 
the committee were authorized to pay him what had been agreed upon, 
and to deliver up the mill to his care. A tax was levied upon the inhabit- 

* Col. Rec. Conn., I., 382. 



112 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1662 

ants of the town to pay for its erection ; and Jolin Cable, Obediah Gil- 
bert, and Samuel Drake were appointed to lay out the land the town had 
agreed to give Ogden adjoining the mill. A fine of 6d. was laid upon 
every man who did not attend the town meetings, and stay until they 
closed, except with consent of the town. At the assembling of the 
General Court at Hartford on the 9th of October, Governor Winthrop, 
Deputy Governor John Mason, twelve magistrates, and twenty-three 
deputies from the towns were present, to hear the reading of the new 
charter granted by King Charles II. Governor Winthrop had received 
every possible assistance from Lord Say and Scale, the Earl of Manchester, 
chamberlain of his Majesty's household, and other noblem.en who had 
favored the Puritan settlements in New England. Governor Winthrop 
possessed a valuable ring, which had been given his father by Charles I., 
which he presented to the new king. Charles was so much pleased to 
receive this ring, w^hich brought back remembrances of a father to whom 
he had been devotedly attached, that he listened with great favor to the 
petition, and on the 23d of April, 1662, gave the colony of Connecticut 
his letters patent under the great seal of England. The charter granted 
in free and common socage all the lands embraced in the old Connecticut 
or Warwick patent to the colony, in nearly the same form and words of 
the petition, with most ample and liberal privileges to those gentlemen 
whose names were mentioned in the petition. Major Nathan Gold's name 
was included in the charter.'-^' This charter did not reach New England 
until some time in August, when it was first read to the commissioners of 
the united colonies at Boston, September 4-16. A special session of 
the General Court of Connecticut was called to meet at Hartford on the 9th 
of October, to receive and hear the reading of the charter. Major Nathan 
Gold, Cornelius Hull, and Samuel Drake were present from Fairfield. 

After the reading of the charter to the freemen, it was " declared to 
belong to them & their successors." Mr. Willis, John Talcot, and Lieu- 
tenant John Allyn were authorized to take it into their care, and to make 
oath before the court " for the due discharge of the trust committed to 
them." The magistrates and freemen then proceeded to establish the 
order of the courts, and the civil and military officers of the colony, under 
the charter. " All the laws & orders of the colony were to stand in full 
force & virtue, unless contrary to the tenor of the charter." The ofificers 
elected in May were confirmed by the freemen. From this time the 
General Court was called the General Assembly, by which name it was 
designated in the new charter. The constables of the respective towns 

* Trumbull's Hist. Conn., I., 258. 



i662] PROGRESS OF FAIRFIELD II3 

were ordered without delay, " to gather into their hands all the corn 
due from their towns, to discharge the colonie's engagenient for the 
charter." They were instructed to exercise due care to receive this tax 
" in two third's wheat and one third peas, dry & merchantable." If any 
persons failed to pay their taxes, the constables were to seize upon any- 
thing "within doors or without," and to dispose of the same to make up 
the sum needed. They were also authorized " to hire or press any persons, 
carts, boats or canoes that were necessary to transport the corn and peas to 
New London," whence it would be shipped to England. The deputies of 
the towns were requested to see that the constables attended to their 
duties, and to take receipts from masters of vessels, " for the whole pro- 
portion of corn for each town," which was to be assigned to a committee 
at New London." Nathan Gold of Fairfield, Mathew Camfield of Nor- 
walk, and Samuel Sherman of Stratford, or any two of them, were 
appointed to hire vessels to " transport the corn from the seaside towns to 
New London," the expense of which '' the colony was to pay out of the 
next years rate." The old seal of the colony was ordered to continue in 
use. The grant of the new charter, and the liberal privileges it afforded to 
all who should settle in Connecticut, was hailed throughout the colony 
with great rejoicing. The planters of New Haven, who had been strong 
supporters of Cromwell against the royal party, found themselves with 
the towns of their colony, both in Connecticut and on Long Island, 
embraced within the limits of the new patent, and therefore subject to 
the laws of the Connecticut colony. 

The long dispute about the Connecticut boundary lines betwen Massa- 
chusetts on the east, and Governor Stuyvesant on the west, was defined in 
the limits of the charter, which, " included all the territories, islands, 
rivers, &c., lying between the Narragansett Bay & the north boundary line 
of the Massachusetts colony," south to the sea or ocean " & in longi- 
tude as the line, the same as the Massachusetts company from East to 
West." With more precipitation perhaps than was wise, the towns of 
Stamford and Guilford immediately tendered their persons and estates to 
to Connecticut, and were received into the jurisdiction. Captain John 
Youngs was sent a deputy from Southold, Long Island, to tender the 
persons and estates of that town to the Connecticut Assembly. He 
appears to have greatly enjoyed this privilege, and had been so loud in his 
efforts to induce the other English towns on the Island, included within 
the province of New Amsterdam, to follow the same example, that 
Governor Stuyvesant sent an agent with a letter of remonstrance to the 

*Col. Rec. Conn., I., 385. 



114 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1662 

Assembly, to the effect that unless some restraint was placed upon 
Captain John Youngs' seditious proceeding, just grounds would be given 
to the States General and the West India Company " to demand, & by 
such means as they in their wisdom should think meet, to recover all that 
tract of land between Greenwich & the Fresh river." The Assembly 
authorized Captain Youngs to show Governor Stuyvesant's agent the new 
charter, and to inform him that they " desired the Honourable Lord 
Stuyvesant would not in anywise encumber or molest his Majestie's sub- 
jects comprehended within the limits of the patent by any impositions, 
that thereby more than probable inconveniences may be prevented." 

The Assembly then proceeded to notify the inhabitants of Westchester, 
who had previously been within the limits of the province of New Am- 
sterdam, that their plantation was included within the limits of the new 
charter, " & to dispose of themselves as might be most conducable to 
their tranquility." Greenwich was also taken into the colony. Nathan 
Gold and Assistants Camfield and Sherman were appointed to hold a court 
at Fairfield, to settle all controversies according to the tenor of the char- 
ter ; and the towns of Stamford, Greenwich and Westchester were referred 
to the said court for this purpose. Among those admitted freemen of the 
colony under the new charter, was Thomas Pell of Fairfield ; and Richard 
(Vowels) Fowles, who had been living at Fairfield, was made a constable 
of Greenwich. Huntington, Setauket and Oyster Bay were also received 
into the colony, and with the other newly admitted towns, were taxed 
towards paying for the charter. Captain Youngs was appointed a particu- 
lar magistrate to hold a court with the other magistrates on Long Island, 
who were to act with the Fairfield magistrates in cases of an obstinate 
character. He was also authorized " to give notice to Lieutenant Garde- 
ner & all the other towns on the Island," to attend the General Assembly 
at the next May election. Any freeman who had committed a " scandal- 
ous offense was ordered to be disfranchised." The salary of the troopers 
which had been annulled, was renewed. The court declared that the 
Hartford train-band should have pre-eminence over all the companies in 
the colony. The court ordered " free trade in all places in the colony ; " 
and all imposed customs were repealed. John Green, Richard Harvey, 
Joseph Mead, Richard Webb, Joseph Weed and Peter Ferris, from the 
towns below Norwalk, were accepted freemen of the colony, and ordered 
to take the freeman's oath before Assistant Nathan Gold, at the next court 
held at Fairfield. Lieutenant Robert Seeley was " offered fifteen pounds, 
& a house belonging to the Sea-Brook fort repaired for his use, if he would 
reside there, & take care of the ammunition." A tax of a penny on the 



t663] PROGRESS OF FAIRFIELD Ug 

pound was levied, to pay the colony expenses, " to be paid in wheat, peas, 
Indian corn or pork at current prices." Before adjourning, the court 
appointed "Wednesday come fortnight, to be set apart throughout the 
colony for a solemn day of Thanksgiving, for y" mercies y' God hath 
extended to this Colony y" yeare past, & particularly for y* good success 
God hath given to y* endeavours of our Hon'* Governor, in obtaining our 
Charter of his Majestic our Soveraigne : also for His gracious answer of 
our prayer in y^ late drought in sending raine ; & for abatement of sick- 
ness & for y*" hopes we have of settlement in y" waies of peace & right- 
eousness." '^^ 

At a town meeting held at Fairfield on the twenty-third of February 
it was voted that every owner of a home-lot should maintain a good fence 
around his premises, or m.ake restitution to his neighbor for any damages 
that might occur. For every day's neglect of this duty the owner was 
required to pay the fence viewers. John Banks, Thomas Staples and 
Samuel Drake, were voted a committee to have fences made in the great 
meadow before the town east of Paul's Neck ; and they were to be paid 
according to the number of acres they fenced in, by the owners of the 
fields. If there was any suitable plowing land belonging to the swamp 
land in this great meadow, it was to be devoted to the use of the Rev. 
Samuel Wakeman, to be improved at the town's pleasure. At the same 
meeting it was voted, that a day in the summer should be set apart for 
burning the fields, " & that the day should be made known to the inhabit- 
ants, by the drummer beating his drum from Goodman Try's to Cornelius 
Hull's; & on that day every man was to repair to his fences to secure 
them." A fine was imposed upon any one who should damage the new 
fences by burning the fields at any other time. 

The General Assembly met at Hartford on the nth of March. The 
particular cause for calling the Assembly together at this time was to make 
peace with New Haven, whose governor and magistrates were greatly 
incensed that their colony should have been included within the limits of 
the new patent. They had declared before the Connecticut Assembly at 
the time the charter was received, that they would not submit to the 
authority of Connecticut, and forthwith they made an appeal to the king. 
A letter was read from Governor Winthrop, who had returned to Eng- 
land, urging that force should not be used against New Haven ; that he 
had promised no injury should be done to that colony, and that the union 
of the two colonics should be a voluntary act. He hoped upon his return 
to effect an amicable union. This letter did not change the course of the 

* Col. Rec. Conn., I., 390. 



Il6 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1663 

Connecticut magistrates, and, in consequence of " this unbrotherly & 
unrighteous management," New Haven declared that they still appealed 
to his Majesty, " & that, exceedingly grieved & afflicted, they, in the 
sight of God, angels, & men, testified against such proceedings." John 
Adams of Fairfield was granted three hundred acres of land near New 
London, thirty acres of which adjoined the land of his father, in considera- 
tion of which he was to relinquish his right to his lands at Fairfield. At 
the May election Lieutenant Gold was elected a magistrate of the General 
Assembly, and Jehu Burr and Cornelius Hull deputies from Fairfield. 
Three pounds were allowed by the Assembly towards defraying the 
expenses of Fairfield, Stratford and Norwalk, for " transporting their corn 
to New London." 

The expenses of the particular courts held at Fairfield, Stratford and 
Norwalk from March '61-62 not yet settled, were ordered to be paid out of 
the colonial treasury. It was also ordered that a particular court should be 
held at Fairfield for the plantations at the seaside, on the first Wednesday 
in November, " unless some extraordinary occasion should call for one more 
court the same year." Lieutenant Gold was appointed one of a commit- 
tee to settle with the Indian chief, Hammonasset, in regard to his lands in 
the eastern part of the colony, which afterwards comprised the townships 
of Clinton and Killingsworth. He was also made one of another com- 
mittee, to settle troubles which had arisen about the towns of Stamford 
and Westchester. 

Richard Olmstead, Joseph Judson and John Banks made a report to 
the Assembly, that they haci completed the boundary line between Strat- 
ford and Fairfield ; that they began at the place agreed upon by the two 
towns, " & have run almost two points from the north point towards the 
north-west, & run & measured to the extent of twelve miles ; & also have 
run the due cross-line at the end, which line runs on the south side of a 
spruce swamp, commonly called Monhantic, & so ends at the mouth of 
y^ Brook, commonly called by the English, the half way brook, being above 
Paugusit." The court ordered the deputies of the towns to meet at the 
May and October terms of the Assembly without further notice, according 
to the charter, and to bring certificates from the constables of their elec- 
tion. The constables were ordered to have charge of the watchmen of the 
towns, and to accompany them " where there was an approach of an 
enemy or by fire," and " to give notice thereof by fireing their guns, & 
crying Fire ! Fire! Arms! Arms!" In case they met any persons walk- 
ing in the street at an unseasonable hour, they were to examine them, and 
unless they could give a good account of themselves, they were to be sent 



i663l PROGRESS OF FAIRFIELD II7 

to the constable and from the constable to the magistrate, " to give an 
account of their unseasonable walking." The watchmen were to begin 
their round of duty "in the evening by the shutting in of the day-light; 
& they were to continue on guard until the break of day," under a pen- 
alty of i^. for every default.* 

Owing to the Indians entering the towns in the night, the Assembly 
ordered " that whatsoever Indian should be found walking up & down 
in any town in this corporation, after the day light shutting in, except he 
give sufficient reason, shall forfeit 20^ 5^* to the public treasury, & 5^ to 
the informer; or else be severely whipped with six stripes at least." It 
was ordered that this law should be published to the Indians. The list of 
estates presented to the October term of court from Fairfield was^^i 1,030, 
9^. 8d. A rate of a penny on a pound was levied on the estates in the 
towns, to defray the expenses of the colony. John Hurd and Joseph 
Judson of Stratford, were appointed to settle the boundary line between 
Fairfield and Norwalk, at the charge of the two towns. The Assembly 
thanked Governor Winthrop for his great pains in procuring the charter. 
The last Wednesday in October was "set apart throughout the colony, for 
a solemn day of thanksgiving for the mercies God has extended to us the 
past year, in the return of our honoured Governor; the recovery of our 
deputy governor out of his late sickness, the plentiful harvest, a season- 
able abatement of the waters, & continuance of peace & health among us." 

Fairfield, as well as all the other towns in the colony, was greatly 
exercised by the complaints of the New Haven colony, and by the 
dissatisfaction Governor Stuyvesant exhibited about the encroachments 
Connecticut had made within their territories, in receiving their towns 
into the jurisdiction ; and in the face of opposition, appointing constables 
to maintain the laws of the colon}'. Many individuals were glad to be 
included within the limits of the new charter; but others protested against 
the measures adopted, to oblige them to submit to the authorities of Con- 
necticut. At the annual meeting of the commissioners of the united 
colonies in September, it was decided that New Haven had always been 
and was still a distinct colony. Governor Stuyvesant appeared in person, 
and maintained his right of jurisdiction over the towns west of Stamford 
and on Long Island, included within the limits of the new patent, accord- 
ing to the articles of agreement in 1650. All the united colonies, except 
Plymouth, were affected by the claims of Connecticut, and therefore 
mutually opposed the course the colony had pursued. The commission- 
ers, therefore, decided that the articles of agreement between Governor 

* Col. Rec. Conn., I., 403. 



Il8 , HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1664 

Stuyvesant was still binding, " & that they would not countenance any 
violation of them." Massachusetts interfered in behalf of the towns on 
Long Island, and advised that Connecticut should apply to their General 
Court for an amicable settlement of the troubles in question. Upon his 
return to the Manhadoes, Governor Stuyvesant found the towns on Long 
Island in a state of revolt. One Sergeant Hubbard was actively engaged 
in obtaining signatures to a petition to the General Assembly of Connec- 
ticut, in which document is the following passage : " As we are already, 
according to our best information, under the scurts of your pattent, so you 
would be pleased to cast over us the scurts of your government's pro- 
tection."* 

The General Assembly of Connecticut paid no attention whatever to 
any of these proceedings, but continued to exercise their authority under 
the charter. A committee was appointed to meet with a committee from 
New Haven, to discuss the matter and to satisfy all grievances. Agents 
were dispatched to Governor Stuyvesant, with instructions that Con- 
necticut would " forbear to put forth any authority over the English 
plantations on* the westerly end of Long Island, provided the Dutch 
forbear to exercise any coercive power towards them." The freemen of 
New Haven resolved not to hold further parley with Connecticut; but 
appointed a day of fasting and prayer "to supplicate divine mercy for the 
afflicted people of God universally, & especially for themselves, that they 
might be directed to the proper means of obtaining an established & per- 
manent enjoyment of their rights & privileges." 

An important town meeting was held at Fairfield, February 15th. 
Lieutenant Gold was chosen moderator. It was first voted : " y' whoso- 
ever for y* future is disorderly in y^ town-meetings, by speaking without 
leave or will not be silent according to law & order of the moderator, he 
shall forfeit to the town treasury 3^^ for every default, to be added to the 
town rate. The moderator is to discern who is delinquent on the prem- 
ises." It was then ordered, that for the ensuing year all officers chosen 
for the town should " have full power to order the prudentials of the 
town," except in grants of lands, applications for which were to be sent in 
to the town meeting. Two town meetings yearly were appointed, " one on 
the 15. of February, & another on the 15. of August." If the above 
dates fell on the Sabbath, the Monday following was to be the town 
meeting day. If occasion required, as many town meetings could be 
called between these intervals as might be necessary. It was also voted 
" that what the townsmen shall do in any of ye meetings shall be binding 

* Mrs. Martha J. Lamb's History of New York City. 



i664] PROGRESS OF FAIRFIELD I I9 

upon y^ inhabitants, provided it was published on a Lecture day, or by a 
writing nailed to y^ meeting-house door." 

All staves for making hogsheads and barrels, were to be held in 
common in the undivided lands, " unless a quantity had been gathered 
together in one place." The following day, it was voted that the East 
Farmers should meet together, " & settle their home-lot fences in general 
& in particular, & if they did not meet & agree, the townsmen would 
take a speedy course to settle it." 

As several persons had " been entertained in Fairfield without leave 
of the townsmen, contrary to an express law of the colony, the marshal 
was ordered immediately to give warning to all such persons entertaining 
strangers, that their guests should leave within 24 hours after such notice; 
& they were to give no further entertainment to such persons, under a 
penalty of the said law exacted on them, as well for the present as for the 
time to come." Two shillings and six pence was granted for every wolf 
killed within the town bounds, provided the heads were first exhibited to 
the town treasurer. 

John Banks and Henry Jackson were appointed to run the town 
bounds between Stratford and Norwalk. Ezekiel Sandford was "granted 
the use of ten acres of land at Uncoway neck, to erect a tan-yard upon for 
three years," At a meeting of the General Assembly in March, Mr. 
Thomas Pell, of Fairfield, was authorized " to buy all the lands of the 
Indian proprietors between West Chester & the Hudson River (that makes 
Manhadoes an Island), & lay it to West Chester, provided that it be not 
purchased by any before, nor in their possession." "Thomas Pell was the 
second English purchaser of land within the boundaries of the present West- 
chester County : the tract which he bought of the Indians included the 
spot where Ann Hutchinson & her family sought a last refuge from Puri- 
tan persecution, & became the victim of indiscriminate savage ferocity."* 

This purchase was made about 1661, and undoubtedly with a view to 
the approaching claims of the Duke of York to the province of New 
Amsterdam. By virtue of the authority he now received, " Mr. Pell 
bought of the Indians all the country lying between Westchester & the 
North River, including Spuyten-Duyvil Creek, which the Dutch had pur- 
chased fifteen years before." 

About the same time Charles II. granted his brother, the Duke of 
York and Albany, a large portion of Maine, and " all the territories, islands, 
rivers, &c., from the west side of the Connecticut River to the east side 
of the Delaware Bay." "This grant included Martha's Vineyard, Nan- 

* Bryant's Hist, of the United States, Vol. II., p. 245. 



I20 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1664 

tucket, all Long Island, & the whole of the territory of the New Nether- 
lands." In one sense this was pleasing news to the New England colonies, 
but in another it was a subject of great uneasiness. The approach of the 
long-dreaded English governor, and almost paramount to this, the introduc- 
tion of Episcopacy, seemed near at hand. This intelligence was brought 
to America by Captain John Scott, of Long Island. He had been a warm 
agitator in annexing the English colonies on Long Island to Connecticut. 
" He had served in the army of Charles I., & his father had spent his for- 
tune, & at last his life in the service of that unhappy king." Scott, there- 
fore, felt that he had a just claim on the new king's favor. He visited 
England and procured a commission from the committee of foreign 
plantations with George Baxter and John Maverick, of Boston, to examine 
into the titles of the English and Dutch claims. The towns on the west 
end of the Island, which had been placed by the agreement between Con- 
necticut and Governor Stuyvesant in a neutral position, welcomed Scott's 
return, and chose him their president until the Duke of York should 
arrive and establish a new government. 

The wildest disorder follovved on Long Island and at the Manhadoes. 
President Scott proceeded to raise an army to reduce the Dutch ; but by 
a happy stroke of policy, Governor Stuyvesant arranged with him that the 
English towns should place themselves under any government they chose, 
and that the other Dutch possessions should continue in the old order of 
government for one year, or at least until the Dutch and English bound- 
aries were settled by reference to England. Scott assumed a high-handed 
course in the Connecticut and New Haven towns on the Sound, stirring 
up a seditious spirit towards the colonial government. A proclamation 
was issued by the General Assembly of Connecticut for his arrest, on the 
charges of "speaking against the king ; seditious carriage ; encouraging the 
nations in hostilities ; usurping the authority of the king; threatening his 
Majestie's subjects with hanging & banishment ; profaning the Sabbath ; 
purjury & violation of his solemn oath ; treachery to the Connecticut 
Colony; calumniating one of the commissioners, & usurping authority 
upon pretense of a commission." Therefore every civil officer within the 
plantations of New Haven, Milford, Brandford, Stratford and Fairfield was 
ordered, in his Majesty's name, to arrest President Scott, and carry him 
peaceably to Hartford. This proclamation was signed, " God save the 
King!" 

Scott was accordingly arrested and imprisoned at Hartford, and all his 
estate was confiscated for the time being. He, however, made his escape 
soon after. The towns Connecticut claimed on Long Island, were 



i664] PROGRESS OF FAIRFIELD 12 1 

instructed to obey " the orders of the officers placed over them by the 
Assembly." A public fast was appointed throughout the colony, " to 
seek God that he would be pleased to smile upon us, & succeed the labors 
& endeavors of his people, in the occasions of the ensuing yeare, that 
health may be continued among us, that peace & truth maybe established 
among ourselves, & throughout his Majesties dominions." At the election 
in May, Lieutenant Gold was chosen an assistant.; Thomas Pell and John 
Banks, deputies, and Jehu Burr, a commissioner for Fairfield.* Long 
Island was pronounced under the charter as one of the islands belonging 
to Connecticut. A committee was appointed to " go to Long Island & 
settle the English plantations under the control of the colony; & in case 
of crimes of a capital nature, they were authorized 'to carry them ' to the 
Courts of Fairfield or Hart fordy John Burr, jr., of Fairfield, was made 
a freeman ; and Lieutenant Gold was ordered to administer the freeman's 
oath to him. 

On the 23d of July, there arrived at Boston a fleet of four ships, having 
on board about " four hundred & fifty well trained soldiers," under the com- 
mand of Colonel Richard Nichols, for the reduction of the Dutch. Colonel 
Nichols was also commissioned by the king, with George Cartwright, Esq., 
Sir Robert Carr, and Samuel Maverick, Esq., to visit the New England 
colonies "to hear& determine all controversies between them, & settle the 
country in peace." f Governor Winthrop, with several gentlemen of the 
Connecticut Assembly and colony, were notified to join Colonel Nichols 
at the west end of Long Island. Governor Stuyvesant was overwhelmed 
with his unfortunate situation. He was on a visit to Fort Orange (August 
6), where he had gone to settle troubles which had arisen with the Indians 
on the north, when he received news that the fleet had not only arrived 
at Boston, but was on its way to the Manhadoes. The factious state of 
the inhabitants of the'towns under his control, made him almost helpless 
to contend against so formidable an attack. With his usual courage, 
however, he prepared to make every possible resistance. A tradition 
exists that he went to Hartford to negotiate a neutrality with Connec- 
ticut ; and that while tiierc he received news of the arrival of the Duke of 
York's fleet, '■ which caused him to return home without a moment's 
delay." Upon his arrival he found the fleet in the bay, and being sum- 
moned to surrender the fort and city, he drew up a long statement of the 
rights of the Dutch, in which he refused to believe that the king would 
ever have taken such measures against him, if he had understood the 

* Col. Rec. Conn., I., 425, 426. 
f Trumbull's Hist. Conn., I., 278. 



122 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1664 

justice of his claims. The brave old governor concluded his letter by 
refusing to surrender the fort or the city, "■ nor fear any evil but such as 
God, in his providence, should inflict upon him." 

Governor Winthrop, who had joined the fleet with a reinforcement of 
Connecticut volunteers at the point designated, was sent under a flag of 
truce with a letter to the infuriated Stuyvesant, offering most liberal terms, 
and everything to remainias'it was, save that the colony would from hence- 
forth be under the jurisdiction of England. Stuyvesant refused to show 
the letter to the burgomaster, and in his wrath tore it in pieces. It was 
gathered up, however, and put together, so that its contents could be read 
and copied. Still, with but about one hundred soldiers, Stuyvesant refused 
listen to the advice of his counselors or to surrender the city. The Con- 
necticut forces and a company of cavalry, with the troops of two of the 
ships, were ordered to prepare to make an attack upon the rear, while the 
soldiers of the two other ships were to sail up before, and bombard the 
city. Upon seeing the ships' guns covering the city, Stuyvesant " stood 
on the walls of the fort by the side of a gun, the gunner ready with his 
lighted match." Being counseled not to be the first to shed blood, by 
Dominie Magapolensis and his son, he left the fort, followed by its garri- 
son, to resist the landing of the enemy's troops. He wrote again to Colonel 
Nichols demanding a neutral agreement, to which he received a reply that 
the attack would be made the next day, " & he would be a bold man who 
would come on board, unless the white flag was hung out from the fort." 
The panic-stricken burgomasters signed a petition, urging that the city 
should be surrendered. Even Stuyvesant's sons' names were among the 
petitioners. Still the old soldier could not yet surrender the city he loved 
so well, or strip himself of the dignity of his character and of his -office. 
The next day, however, the J 8th of September, Stuyvesant and his force 
marched out of Fort Amsterdam, and went on board ships lying in the 
East River, bound for Holland. At the same time Colonel Nichols with 
"six columns of English soldiers filed through the streets of the city." 
The English flag was hoisted over the fort, the gates, and other principal 
buildings of the city. Colonel Nichols was proclaimed governor by the 
burgomasters. New Amsterdam was named New York, and Fort Amster- 
dam Fort James. A few days later Fort Orange or Urania surrendered, 
and was named Fort Albany in honor of the Duke of York's second title. 
On the 1st of October the Dutch possessions in Delaware were surren- 
dered to Sir Robert Cam* 

These active measures spread general alarm in the New England col- 

* Mrs. Martha J. Lamb's Hist, of New York, Vol. I., 209-217. 



i664l PROGRESS OF FAIRFIELD 1 23 

onies, especially in Massachusetts and New Haven. Connecticut had little 
to fear, save a general sense of disquietude about her newly acquired 
charter privileges, and the effort of William and Anne, the Duke and 
Duchess of Hamilton, who had petitioned the king to restore to them the 
territory in New England granted to their father, the Marquis of Hamilton, 
in 1635, which petition the king had referred to Colonel Nichols and 
the other commissioners with him. Massachusetts demurred in July to 
Colonel Nichols's demand for assistance to reduce the Dutch ; but Connec- 
ticut yielded without hesitation, and sent her quota, of which Fairfield bore 
her proportion. No sooner had the fleet left Boston for New Amsterdam, 
than the General Court of Massachusetts sent Mr. Whiting of New Haven 
home, to advise that colony to join with Connecticut in accepting and 
maintaining their chartered rights, as a matter of duty not only to them- 
selves, but to all the New England colonies. Accordingly, on the iith of 
August, Governor Leete of New Haven convened a General Court to 
weigh the matter; and after a lengthy debate it was decided to yield to 
the claims of Connecticut, until the meeting of the commissioners, which 
was near at hand. 

The commissioners of the united colonies met at Hartford on the ist 
of September, and strongly recommended the union of the two colonies, 
which, they declared, involved the interest and welfare of the other col- 
onies, and that resistance to the king's charter would be disastrous to the 
liberties of the people in all the colonies, especially to Connecticut. They 
recommended if New Haven became incorporated with Connecticut as 
one colony, that they should be allowed to send two commissioners to 
the annual meetings, " & that the determination of any four of the six 
should be equally binding on the confederates, as the conclusion of six 
out of eight had been before. It was proposed that the meeting which 
of course had been at New Haven should be at Hartford." It was also 
proposed that the meeting of the commissioners should from henceforth 
be triennial.* 

The General Assembly recommended the churches throughout the 
colony to consider if it was not their duty to entertain all persons who 
were of an honest and godly conversation, having a competent knowledge 
of Christianity, to be allowed by an explicit covenant to join with them in 
church fellowship, that they might have their children baptized; "and 
that all the children of the church be accepted & counted real members of 
the church, with due care & watchfulness over them, & that upon their 
being grown up, they should be examined before the ofificers of the 

* Trumbull's Hist, of Conn., I., 270. 



124 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1664 

churches, before they should be admitted to the Lord's supper." * This 
advice was very pleasing to those who had complained most bitterly of 
having been deprived of their liberties as freemen. A copy of this recom- 
mendation was ordered to be sent to all the ministers in the colony. 

The people of New Haven received this advice with great opposition. 
They declared that " to stand as God had kept them, was their best way," 
consequently no vote for a union could be obtained. The Rev. Mr. Daven- 
port and Rev. Abraham Pierson, of Brandford, were strongly opposed 
to the union on account of the liberality of the civil franchise of Connec- 
ticut ; for they held to the opinion that none should be freemen but com- 
municants of the Congregational persuasion. The danger of the magis- 
trates losing their ofifices was also a strong point of opposition ; and still 
another strong point was the mortification of yielding to Connecticut, 
after having so long been a distinct colony. At this important crisis the 
General Assembly of Connecticut met on the 13th of October, and with 
grave apprehensions decided to pay every respect to the Duke of York's 
commissioners. It was ordered that Colonel Nichols and the rest of the 
commissioners be sent five hundred bushels of corn, as a present from Con- 
necticut. Lieutenant Gold, of Fairfield, with three other gentlemen, were 
appointed " to accompany Governor Winthrop to New York, to congratu- 
late his Majestie's Honourable Commissioners ; & if a fitting opportunity 
offered, to settle the bounds between the Duke's patent & that of Con- 
necticut." A committee was appointed to settle the bounds between the 
colony and Massachusetts and Rhode Island, according to the limits of 
their respective charters. Another committee was appointed to visit the 
towns belonging to the New Haven Colony, and in the name of the king 
require the inhabitants "to submit to his Majestie's gracious grant to the 
colony," and to receive their answer. The Assembly invested Governor 
Leete and the magistrates of New Haven "with authority to assist in 
governing the plantations of that colony, according to the laws of Con- 
necticut, or with as many of their own laws as were not contrary to the 
charter. 

The list of estates presented to the Assembly from Fairfield at this 
time, was valued at i^ 11,746, lis. 

Fairfield was called upon this year to mourn the loss of her first min- 
ister, the Rev. John Jones. Amid the many trials attending a settlement 
in a new country, he had faithfully served his people for twenty years, and 
had walked among them as a father, during those days of alternate sun- 
shine and gloom. Mention has already been made of his longing to return 

*Conn. Col. Rec, I., 438. 



i664] PROGRESS OF FAIRFIELD 12$ 

to his friends in Massachusetts, and of his final decision to remain in Fair- 
field. A more particular mention however is due to his memory. In 
Edward Johnson's history of New England, or Wonder Working Provi- 
dence of Zion's Saviour, Mr.Jones is represented to have been a " Valiant 
Leader of Christ's Souldiers, a holy man of God." As a tribute of his 
respect and admiration for him, Mr. Johnson left the following sonnet: 

" In Desart's depths where Wolves & Beares abide, 
There Jones sits down a wary watch to keepe 
O'er Christ's deare flock, who now are wandered wide ; 
But not from him, whose eyes ne're close in sleep. 
Surely it suits thy melancholly minde 
Thus solitary for to spend thy dayes, 
Much more thy soule in Christ Content doth finde, 
To work for Him, who thee to joy will raise. 
Leading thy son to Land, yet more remote, 
To feed his flock upon the Western Waist : 
Exhort him then Christ's kingdome to promote ; 
That he with thee of lasting joyes may taste." 

The ministry of Mr. Jones proved most acceptable to his congregation. 
With the tide of emigration from Europe and from all parts of the country, 
his church rapidly increased in numbers. He, with his children, became 
sharers with the planters of Uncoway in the several divisions of lands, 
which the town, from time to time, apportioned among the inhabitants. 
Even after his death, his widow and children continued to receive their 
shares of dividend lands. There is no doubt but that Mr. Jones was buried 
in the cemetery lying on the south side of Concord street and in the rear 
of the land which surrounded his house.* This cemetery is mentioned in 

* There has existed a great deal of doubt among many about this cemetery having been the 
oldest in the town. The following entry, however, which is found among the town votes, proves 
conclusively that it was the first burial-place of Fairfield : " March lo, 16S2, John Bulkley sub- 
mits to maintain under view, y^ line of fence from y^ south-east end of Mr. Jehu Burr's fence, till 
they meet with John Bulkley's side fence — this until he runs a strait range from Mr. Burr's rear to 
ye '■ burying hi I r y Mr. John Bulkley was a grandson of the Rev. Mr. Jones. In 1673 several 
of the heirs of Mr. Jones sold their interests in his estate to the said John Bulkley, at which time 
he became the possessor of all the land, with the exception of that occupied by Mrs. Jones near 
Edward's pond. Another conclusive proof that this is the oldest burial place in the town, is the 
record of thirty acres of land granted to Roger Ludlow in 1653 in the great meadow (the home- 
meadow, or the meadow before the towm, " bounded north west with the swamp land & the bury- 
ing-place, north east with the land of Francis Purdie, on the south east with the sea beach & 
swamp land, & south west with the land of Nathaniel Baldwin." This boundary places the first 
grave-yard north-west of the sea beach, and but a short distance from it ; while the boundary of 
John Bulkley's land places it north-east of Mr. Jehu Burr's fence and his own land ; thus locating 
it precisely where it has ever since remained. 



126 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1664 

the town records as " BURIAL-HILL." The stone which marked his grave, 
like those of many others, has crumbled away, or been covered with the 
deposits of time.* 

Jehu Burr, Robert Turney, John Knowles, Joseph Lockwood, Robert 
Beacham, Simon Crouch, John Barlow, sr., John Barlow, jr., James 
Evarts, Peter Coly, Thomas "Sherwood, William Hayden, John Gruman, 
Francis Bradley, John Hoit, Stephen Sherwood, Nathaniel Burr, Richard 
Lyon, Samuel Wakeman, Thomas Bennet, Thomas Wilson, James Beers, 
John Odell, Richard Hubbell, all of Fairfield, were accepted this year 
as freemen ; and Lieutenant Gold and Assistant Samuel Sherman, of 
Stratford, were appointed to administer the freeman's oath to them. 
Two pence farthing to the pound was levied upon all the towns to 
defray the colony expenses. 

A day of general thanksgiving was ordered throughout the colony. In 
November, Lieutenant Gold accompanied Governor Winslow and the 
other members of the committee appointed to wait on Colonel Nichols, to 
New York. After .full explanations were made in behalf of the claims of 
Connecticut, the royal commissioners settled the boundary line between 
New York and Connecticut as follows : 

"That the southern bounds of his Majesty's colony of Connecticut, is the sea ; & that 
Long Island is to be under the government of his royal highness, the duke of York, as is 
expressed by plain words in the said patents respectively. We also order & declare, 
that the creek or river called Mamaronock, which is reputed to be about twelve miles to 
the east of West Chester, & a line drawn from the east point or side, where the fresh water 
falls into the salt, at high water mark, north-north-west, to the line of Massachusetts, be 
the western bounds of the said colony of Connecticut ; & the plantations lying westward 
of that creek, & line so drawn, to be under his royal highness's government ; & all plan- 
tations lying eastward of that creek & Ime, to be under the government of Connecticut."! 

Soon after this happy adjustment of the long-disputed boundaries, New 
Haven called a special court, and resolved, that while they could not 
approve of the course Connecticut had pursued towards them, nevertheless, 
" when an authentic copy of the determination of his Majestie's Commis- 
sioners is published, to be recorded to us, if thereby it shall appear to our 
committee, that we are by his Majestie's authority, now put under Con- 

* That no grave-stones were erected to the memory of Mr. Jones or to any of his family is an 
absurdity. The country abounded with stones. The Blue Stone quarry at Greenfield, and the 
granite quarry at Pequonnock, with other suitable stones, offered an abundant supply of material. 
The very reverence entertained for Mr. Jones' position and years, would have led his people, as 
well as his family, to mark his grave, as many of the oldest inhabitants had grave-stones. See 
Mrs. Burr Perry's Grave- Yards of Fairfield. 

f Trumbull's Hist, of Conn., I., 525. 



1665] PROGRESS OF FAIRFIELD 127 

necticut patent, we shall submit, by a necessity brought upon us, by the 
means of Connecticut aforesaid ; but with a salvo jure of our former rights 
& claims, as a people, who have not yet been heard, in point of plea." 

On the 5th of January following. Governor Leete met with the General 
Court of New Haven again, when a letter was sent to the General Assembly 
of Connecticut, in which they said : "we now signify that having seen the 
copies of his Majestie's Commissioners determination (deciding the bounds 
betwixt his bigness the Duke of York & Connecticut Charter), we do 
declare our submission thereunto, according to the true intent of our vote 
unto which we refer you." As their governor and magistrates had been 
chosen for the year, they also stated that they would make no change 
until the year had expired. From this time the union of the two colonies 
was fully settled, and thus Connecticut came to be possessed for so many 
years of the two capitals, Hartford and New Haven. 

At a meeting of the General Assembly of Connecticut on the 20th of 
April, a series of propositions was presented by the Duke of York's com- 
missioners, the first of which was to the effect, that all the inhabitants in 
the colony should take the oath of allegiance in the king's name. To this 
the Assembly replied, that according to his Majestie's charter, a governor 
had been chosen, who had appointed meet persons to administer the oath 
of allegiance, which had already generally been administered, " & that it 
had been & shall be in his Majestie's nainey To the second proposition, 
that all men of competent estates and civil conversation, though differing 
in judgment, may be admitted freemen, and have liberty to choose their 
civil and military officers, a reply was sent, " that this had always been done 
in the Connecticut colony." To the third proposition, that all persons 
should be allowed to enjoy the worship of God in whatever way they 
pleased, provided it did not tend to disturb the public, or hinder the main- 
tenance of the ministers regularly chosen in any town or parish, the reply 
was, " that they did not know of any one who had been troubled by us for 
attending his conscience, provided he had not disturbed the public." To 
the fourth proposition, tliat all laws derogatory to his Majesty should be 
repealed, the answer was, " they were not aware that there were any such 
laws, but if such existed they were repealed upon the receipt of the char- 
ter." A proposition from Colonel Nichols, that gentlemen should be 
appointed to assist in case of foreign invasion, was referred to the May term. 

The governor and the other officers of New Haven were nominated to 
be assistants of the General Assembly of Connecticut. It was also unani- 
mously voted that all the former disagreements and actings, "on the 
part of the New Haven colony, so far as they concerned the Connecticut 



128 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1665 

colony, be buried in perpetual oblivion never to be called to account." 
An effort to effect a more speedy way for conveying public letters 
through the towns, was left to the consideration of the other colonies. A 
committee was appointed to draw up a reply to a motion which had been 
made about the claims of the Duke of Hamilton. A reply was soon after 
sent to the effect, that the grant of Connecticut to certain nobles and gen- 
tlemen was made long prior to the Marquis of Hamilton's ; that it had been 
with great difficulty that the planters of Connecticut had subdued the 
Indians, spread over the tract of country they claimed ; " & that was little 
compensation for the blood & treasures they had expended in consequence 
of it, & defending it in his Majest:e's interests against the Dutch & other 
foreigners; that they had with great labor & expense cultivated the lands 
to their own & his Majesties interests ; & that his Majesty, of his grace, 
had been pleased to confirm it to them by his royal charter, in which these 
reasons had been recognized." 

At a town meeting held in Fairfield on the 29th of April it was voted, 
" That upon Wednesdays every fortnight after the conference meetings, 
there shall be a townsmen's meeting for the attentions of the town's occa- 
sions." 

At the election in May, Lieutenant Gold was elected an assistant of the 
General Court, and John Banks and Thomas Pell, deputies from Fairfield 
Several magistrates were chosen from New Haven, and deputies from each 
of the towns formerly within that jurisdiction were present. Richard 
Laws was made a magistrate for the towns of Stamford, Greenwich and 
Rye, " & also to assist in the execution of justice in the courts of Fairfield 
& Stratford." The villages of Hastings and Rye were united in one planta- 
tion ; and Lieutenant Gold, and John Banks were appointed with Mr. Laws, 
to settle whatever disputes existed between the two places, and to run the 
boundary line between Stamford and Greenwich.''^ The second Wednesday 
in June was appointed a day of fasting and prayer in the colony. A gen- 
eral session of the Assembly was held on the 6th of July, to take into con- 
sideration such active measures as were necessary for a threatened invasion 
by the Dutch. War had been declared between England and Holland, 
and Admiral Do Ruyter with a large force had been ordered to New York. 
The king had warned his subjects in the colonies to place themselves in a 
posture of defense. Committees were appointed in each town to guard 
the coast and to give notice of the approach of the enemy. Lieutenant 

* The villages of Rye and Hastings remained within the Connecticut colony limits until 1683. 
when, by the terms of agreement between the agents of the two colonies for the determination of 
their bounds, a new line was established, and Rye was annexed to New York. 



i665] PROGRESS OF FAIRFIELD 1 29 

Gold, Assistants Sherman, Camfield, Judson, Laws, and Lieutenant Olm- 
stead, or any three of them, were appointed a committee to guard the 
towns from Stratford to Rye, and to order the best way for reHef in case 
of an attack. Happily, De Ruyter was needed at home, consequently the 
colonies and the Duke of York's commissioners were not molested. 

The keys of the town pound were given to Henry Lyon ; and if any 
persons did not redeem their cattle from the pound within twenty-four 
hours after being notified, the marshal was ordered to make sale of some 
part of the creatures at an outcry, twenty men at least being present. The 
overplus of the poundage was to be paid to the owner. On the 30th of 
September the townsmen ordered that the meadows should be sown with 
English grass-seed. 

The choice of a new minister at Fairfield was happily made on the 30th 
of September, at which time the Rev. Samuel Wakeman was elected " by 
a free vote'" of the townsmen, " to take upon him the office of a pastor." 
It was also voted : " He is to make use of the parsonage land while he 
teacheth, & is a pastor among us." No mention is made in the town 
records of Mr. Wakeman having been the assistant of the Rev. Mr. Jones, 
but he undoubtedly occupied that position. He had not long been estab- 
lished in his ministerial of^ce, before he was called upon to take an active 
part in the questions of church discipline. One of the chief difificulties 
with which our ancestors were obliged to contend, was the confusion of 
church with state affairs, by which the chief magistrates of the General 
Court and of the towns, undertook to make laws for the government of the 
churches, whereby a strange intermingling of ecclesiastical and civil affairs 
was brought about. In order to settle the various questions which had 
arisen in regard to church membership, baptism, etc., the General Court in 
October of the following year, ordered that a synod should be called to 
consider and debate these matters, and that the questions to be presented 
to the elders and ministers should "be publicly disputed to an issue." 
Both the General Courts and the commissioners of the united colonies, 
advised a council of ministers and teaching elders from all the towns in the 
New England colonies. The ministers of Connecticut, however, were 
opposed to such a council, and consequently it did not take place at this 
time. 

In the month of October the General Assembly ordered that the 
county courts should be held at New Haven, the first on the second 
Tuesday in June, the other on the third Thursday in November, which 
courts were to consist of " not less than two Assistants with two or more 
Commissioners, or five judges at least, for the trial of all cases, except limb 
9 



130 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1665 

or banishment." Thus the first county courts were estabHshed.* Every 
town was ordered to have a town-brand, and a person appointed to mark 
horses and enter them on the records, with their color and age. The 
brands were to be in letters on the near shoulder. The letter F was made 
the Fairfield mark. A penalty of 20^. for any horse sold without due 
attention to this order was required. The list of estates at Fairfield this 
year were valued at ;^ii,253, 12^. Two superior courts or .courts of 
assistants, consisting of seven judges at least, were ordered to be held 
yearly at Hartford, the first on Tuesday before the General Assembly in 
Ma3% and the other on Tuesday before the October Assembly, to which 
court the county courts might appeal in cases of capital crime, " respect- 
ing life, limb or banishment." All appeals to the court of assistants were 
to be tried before a jury, if the case required. Instead of the four quarterly 
courts held at Hartford, tro county courts were ordered to be held in 
March and September as formerly. The last Wednesday in November 
was appointed a thanksgiving day in all the towns " to return praise to 
God for his great mercy to us, for the continuance of our liberties & privi- 
leges both Civil & Ecclesiastical ; & for our peace, & preventing those 
troubles that we feared by foreign enemies ; & for the blessings of the fruit 
of the earth & the general health in the plantations." 

All the towns in Connecticut had at this time every reason to rejoice 
for the many blessings bestowed upon them. The conservative course 
begun by Roger Ludlow and his associates in the first planting of the 
colony, and the liberal spirit of the constitution, both in civil and ecclesi- 
astical affairs, especially in the freedom of its civil franchise, had placed the 
colony far in advance of its sister colonies, and obtained for it the favor of 
the king, as well as of his Majesty's commissioners. 

Soon after Colonel Nichols had been made governor of New York, Sir 
Robert Carr, George Cartright and Samuel Maverick went to Boston, and 
at once entered upon the business assigned them, of examining the validity 
of the English claims. In Massachusetts they went so far as to interfere 
with the established laws, especially in regard to their civil franchise, and to 
dictate that all men of a good and honest conversation, should be allowed 
the liberties of freemen without being church members. 

Massachusetts resented the course of the king's commissioners, and 
while their chief ministers and magistrates expressed their loyalty to the 
king, they tenaciously adhered to their charter privileges. Highly indig- 
nant at this opposition, the royal commissioners made a very unfavorable 
report of their mode of government. An address which had been pre- 

* Conn. Col. Rec, I., 25. 



1665] PROGRESS OF FAIRFIELD I3I 

pared by Governor Winthrop and Secretary David Clark, and which was 
ordered in October to be presented to the king by Secretary Ben net (then 
secretary of state and afterwards Lord Arlington), in regard to the claims 
of the Duke and Duchess of Hamilton, was most graciously received. On 
the loth of April a letter was dispatched to the governor and council of 
the colony of Connecticut, wherein the gracious manner in which the 
king's commissioners had been received by them was acknowledged, and 
"the dutifulness & obedience of the colony highly commended," inas- 
much as it seemed " to be set off with more luster by the contrary deport- 
ment of the colony of Massachusetts, as if by their refractoriness they have 
designed to recommend & heighten the merits of your compliance with 
our directions, for the peaceable & good government of our subjects in 
those parts ; you may therefore assure yourselves that we shall never be 
unmindful of your loyal & dutiful behaviour; but shall upon all occasions, 
take notice of it to your advantage, promising you our constant protec- 
tion & royal favor, in all things that may concern your safety, peace & 
welfare." 

At a town meeting held at Fairfield on the 15th of December, John 
Banks was appointed " to make diligent inquiry in regard to those persons 
who entertained strangers without the consent of the town." All the 
common swamps and lands, large highways excepted, were ordered to be 
sold by John Banks, the treasurer, in parcels, at an outcry the first Monday 
of the next April. Cornelius Hull was " granted liberty to change the 
land for his hop garden, for any other place upon the Aspetuck river in 
like quantity." Liberty was granted for any one to erect a fulling mill in 
the town. Peter Coley was chosen to seal the weights and measures, and 
to be a sworn packer of meats. Lieutenant Gold, John Banks and Wil- 
liam Hill were appointed a committee to meet with the farmers of Maxu- 
mux, " to treat with them concerning what relation they stand to us, & 
what the said committee shall do in the premises the town will stand 
to." 

The Bankside farmers had asserted their independence, and in defiance 
of the efforts of the townsmen to include them within their limits, they 
assumed their rights on the strength of their first purchase of the Maxu- 
mux lands of the Indians. They had fenced in a large meadow north of 
Sherwood's island and Gallop's gap, called the horse pasture. A herds- 
man was always on watch to care for both horses, cattle and sheep. There 
was still another meadow called Plaistead's meadow, which came to be 
disputed between the farmers and the town, afterwards called the Gained 
meadow, Cornelius Hull was appointed an agent and attorney for money 



132 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1666 

due the town from the planters for grass-seed, which had been sold them 
by Mr. Burr, for sowing the common meadows. 

At the court of election in May, Nathan Gold was made an assistant 
of the General Assembly, John Burr and John Banks, deputies, and 
William Hill and John Banks, commissioners for Fairfield.* About this 
time Nathan Gold received the title of Major. 

John Banks was made one of a committee to examine the value of a 
tract of land, which the Indian sachem Tauntonimo had sold to Richard 
Baldwin, of Milford ; and also to report to the Assembly " if the land at 
Paugussett was fit for a township." 

Any two assistants or commissioners were given liberty to administer 
the oath of fidelity to the king, in their respective tovfns, and to such of 
the neighboring towns as had no assistants. If any refused to take this 
oath, their names were to be presented to the next General Assembly. 
Major Gold, in his ofifice of assistant, with Assistant Sherman, of Strat- 
ford, was appointed to administer this oath at Fairfield. The commis- 
sioners were invested with the same power as the assistants, within the 
limits of the towns in which they lived. It was ordered "that the terri- 
tory lying between the east bounds of Stratford to the west bounds of 
Rye, should be called the County of Fairfield; & that the County Court 
should be held at Fairfield, on the second Tuesday in March, & the first 
Tuesday in November yearly. Each County Court was to consist of at 
least one Assistant & two Commissioners to act as judges." Three 
assistants might act as judges in case the commissioners neglected their 
duty. A special court could be called by the assistants or commissioners 
in extraordinary cases, provided it was no expense to the colony. 

Attachments on property for debt were not to be sold without a hear- 
ing before the higher courts. Wills and inventories were to be exhibited 
before the county court, and the distribution of estates made by the 
same court, either according to the will or the decision of the court. That 
orphans might be protected from injustice on the part of those who had 
the care of their property, all sales of their houses or real estate were 
made null and void, without the sanction of the General Assembly ; and all 
receipts over and above the appraisal value of property were to be paid 
over to the lawful heirs at the settlement of an estate, and the property, kept 
in good repair by those appointed as administrators.f The magistrates of 
the towns were instructed to agree upon some effectual course to prevent the 
spread of contagious diseases from vessels coming into port. Persons who 
attempted to vote at the annual elections, who had not been made freemen 

*CoI. Rec. Conn., II., 31. f Col. Rec. Conn., II., 39. 



iG66] PROGRESS OF FAIRFIELD 1 33 

of the colony, were " fined five pounds for each transgression." William 
Hill was appointed clerk of the county court of Fairfield. 

The committee appointed by the town to settle with the Bankside 
farmers, entered into a final agreement with them. This was the second 
agreement m^de with the town, and was as follows : 

" Articles of Agreement between Nathan Gold, John Banks, John Burr, Cor. Hull & 
William Hill, on behalf of the town of Fairfield, of the one party, & the fiirmers at Maxa- 
mus, alias called Bankside on the other party, witnesseth : 

Imprimis. It is agreed that the above said farmers & the town of Fairfield shall 
for the future be one township. The above said farmers do adjoin their mile as an addi- 
tion to the bounds of the town of Fairfield ; & said farmers are to be equal in town privi- 
liges & charges, according to their proportion, with the rest of the inhabitants of the 
town of Fairfield. The said farmers are to be subject to town orders about fencing or 
whatever else shall be ordered, as any other inhabitants of the town of Fairfield are. 

2. It is agreed that the farmers shall possess as their propriety all such land & 
meadows as they have already in fence, with all such mowable marsh as lieth without 
fence, as is on the east side of Compo creek, leading up to Muddy river, which they have 
now in their possession. 3. That if said farmers desire it, there shall be laid forth to each 
farmer, in some convenient place, fifteen acres of upland for their use & propriety. 4. 
It is agreed that John Green shall enjoy freely five acres he possesseth on the west side 
of Compo creek, to be to him & his heirs forever, if the town see good to grant it. 5. It 
is agreed that there shall be maintained out of the town treasury, a sufficient foot-bridge 
over Sasco & the Mill rivers. 6 It is agreed that the farmers shall appoint at some 
inhabitant's house within half a mile of the meeting-house, where notices shall be left 
of any town meeting which shall be to them a sufficient warning. 7. It is agreed that such 
agreement as said farmers have already entered into about a bridge over Gallup's Gap 
going to their lands, shall be abiding as formerly, each with the other, notwithstanding 
the above agreement of the farmers with the town. 8. It is. agreed that such Indian 
deeds, whether by gift or purchase, shall be surrendered up to the town upon considera- 
tion of the premises by the farmers. 9. It is agreed that the farmers' west bridge near 
iheir houses, which now lieth over the creek, shall for the future be maintained out of the 
town treasury. The farmers with cows are not to pay to the town herd. 10. It is agreed 
that the true meaning of the above said third article concerning the grant of more land, 
doth only respect the five first farmers that settled there, viz. : Thomas Newton, Daniel 
Frost, Henry Gray, John Green & Francis Andrews. 11. It is agreed that the farmers' 
grant unto Robt. Beacham of two acres of land, which now lieth within fence, shall 
remain good & valid to the true performance. All the above said parties have hereunto 
set their hands this 29th day of June, 1666.* 

Daniel Frost. 
John Green. 
Simon Couch. 
Henry F. Smith." 

Francis Andrews having died before this agreement was made, he is 
* State Archives, Hartford, Conn., B, Town Votes, p. 22. 



134 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1666 

represented by his son Daniel Frost and his son-in-law Simon Crouch or 
Couch, and Henry F. Smith. Josiah Harvey was granted from the town 
three hundred acres of land above the Mill river. One Mr. Blacklidge 
" was ordered to leave the town & not take up his residence here." 
Any one who killed a bear between this and the next town meeting, was 
to receive ** fifty shillings for each old bear, & for each cub twenty shil- 
lings." An extra session of the General Assembly met at Hartford on 
the 26th of July, to make preparations for the reduction of the French 
and Dutch in America, especially the French in Canada. King Charles 
had declared war against the Dutch on the 25th of February, 1665. This 
war had grown out of the jealously which the English entertained towards 
Holland, for, in spite of all the efforts which had been made to "extend 
their trade, they had been baffled by their vigilant rivals to their loss 
& dishonor." The Dutch had also made settlement at New Africa, from 
virhence the first guineas coined in England were made. 

A fleet of ninety-eight sail was fitted out, and placed under the com- 
mand of the Duke of York, and under him by Prince Rupert and the Earl 
of Sandwich. A battle took place June 3d off the coast of Suffolk, when 
the Dutch were vanquished, with the loss of nineteen ships sunk and 
taken, while the English lost but one ship. This victory so alarmed Louis 
XIV., lest the English should gain control over the sea, both in naval and 
commercial interests, that he resolved to assist the Dutch, and declared 
war against England January 16 (1666). He was soon after joined by 
the King of Denmark. This league is known by the name of the Triple 
Alliance. On the i8th of the following month, the governor and council 
of Connecticut received a letter from the king, with orders to supply 
themselves with *' ships & land forces, to subdue their troublesome neigh- 
bors." Forty horsemen were ordered to be sent immediately to Spring- 
field, to accompany the troops to be sent by Captain Pinchion to Fort 
Albany. A committee was appointed to wait upon Major Gold, to 
require him to accept of a commission to the office the colony had chosen 
him to fill. 

A committee to conduct necessary measures to carry on the war was 
appointed. Every town was ordered to place the militia and seamen 
in proper order, for an offensive and defensive war. Strict orders ^vere 
issued against firing off guns in the towns, save upon the approach of 
enemies, under a fine of five pounds, or two months' imprisonment. 
Every soldier, upon an alarm of danger, was ordered to repair with alacrity 
to the place appointed by the chief officers for meeting, under a penalty 
of five pounds, imprisonment or corporal punishment, unless good reason 



if,66] PROGRESS OF FAIRFIELD 1 35 

of inabilty to attend was given. The king's letter to the governor and 
council of the colony was read before the Assembly on the 31st of July. 
It was voted that the governor and deputy governor should enlist the 
Indians to assist in case of an invasion. The pike bearers of the train- 
bands in the plantations, were ordered to supply themselves " with pikes, 
not less than fourteen foot long, well headed with iron." The selectmen 
were ordered to purchase poles and fit them up for the use of the militia 
" as town stock." Out of every hundred soldiers, twenty pikes were 
to be kept in readiness, and to be prepared as speedily as possible. The 
destruction made by this war, combined with the dreadful plague, and the 
great fire which visited London this year,* were looked upon as judgments 
from heaven, and led the king and his cabinet to make overtures of peace, 
which was effected at Breda in May, 1677. t Thus the towns in the 
colony were saved a few years longer from the calamities of a war with the 
French and Indians. In August the townsmen of Fairfield voted that any 
one who left the gates open which guarded the common fields, if they 
were capable of being shut, should be fined five shillings. Thomas Oliver 
and others, who had been engaged in building a bridge over the Uncowa 
river, were desired to finish it on their own account ; but if in the future 
the town sliould see fit to have bars, or a gate, for the safety of cattle it 
should be paid for out of the treasury. A horse-bridge was ordered to be 
made over the mouth of Sasco creek. 

The list of estates in Fairfield this year were estimated at ^11,149. 
Cornelius Hull having been appointed attorney to represent the western 
claims of the town, it was decided, that if upon evidence Fairfield had been 
granted seven miles from the west bounds of Stratford, that Norwalk 
should be paid a reasonable consideration for the money which that 
plantation had paid to the Indians for lands claimed by the Fairfield 
planters. Assistant Samuel Sherman, Mr. Fairchild and Ensign Judson 
were appointed a committee to consider what was equitable and reason- 
able for the inhabitants of Fairfield to pay to the town of Norwalk. They 
were also to examine the quality of the land twelve miles northward 
between the two towns. Ensign Judson, John Banks and Lieutenant 
Olmstead were appointed to run the division line. 

This decision of the Assembly by no means pleased the Fairfield 

* " In July, 1666, the weekly deaths in London were 1,100 ; they increased to 10,000 a week in 
September, & not less that 100,000 persons were computed to have perished in the course of the 
year. The fire extended over 436 acres." — Hume. 

t " By this treaty England gained New York ; & Nova Scotia was given up to the French 
for Antigua, Monscrrat, Cc St. Kitts." — Hume. 



136 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1667 

planters, who still continued to extend their limits to the Saugatuck 
River. The last day of October was appointed a public thanksgiving 
"to return praise to God for his great mercy in the continuation of our 
liberties & privileges, both civil & ecclesiastical ; & for our peace ; & pre- 
venting the troubles we feared from foreign enemies; & for his blessing in 
in the fruits of the earth ; & the general health continued in the plan- 
tations." 

At a town meeting held in March, the sojourning of strangers in Fair- 
field was made a matter of serious consideration. It was voted, " that 
John Thorp should not be entertained in the town, under the penalty of 
the law, in such cases." Goodman Lyon was also desired to leave the town, 
" & speedily to provide for himself." John Burr and John Green were 
appointed to call a committee, to run the division line between Fairfield 
and Norwalk, and to examine the country above the town. Henry Jack- 
son was given liberty to erect a mill on the Uncoa stream, if completed 
within two years. Sergeant George Squire and Joseph Middlebrook were 
appointed to measure out each man's land who wished fences in the great 
meadow, on either side of the creek ; and to sell at an outcry the lands 
on the other side of the creek or Uncoa neck, according to the rules of 
fencing. 

Nathaniel Seeley purchased this year of an Indian named Crocecrow, a 
large track of land lying between the Saugatuck and Aspetuck rivers.* 

At the May election Major Gold was elected one of the assistant judges 
of the General Assembly, and Cornelius Hull and William Hill deputies. 
William Hill was also made a commissioner. The town of Fairfield was 
recommended to settle upon the Bankside farmers and their heirs, by 
a firm record, the lands which they had improved. The estates of commis- 
sioners v/ere freed from public taxes. There being but one prison at 
Hartford, each county town was ordered to erect a prison or house of cor- 
rection ; and that this order m.ight be speedily carried out by the first of 
December, twelve pounds was granted to each county for prisons built 
before that time. In case this order was neglected, a fine of twenty 
pounds was to be paid by the county to the colony treasury. 

It was ordered that a grand jury of twelve able men, at least, should 
be warned to appear at the county courts yearly, viz. : at Hartford on the 
first Thursday in March, at New London on the first Wednesday in June, 
at New Haven on the second Wednesday in June, and at Fairfield on the 
second Tuesday in March, or oftener if required. Mathew Camfield was 
made a commissioner for Norwalk, and to assist in the execution of justice 

* Fairfield Town Rec, Book A, page 494. 



1667] PROGRESS OF FAIRFIELD I37 

at the county court of Fairfield. A complaint having been made that 
divers persons had thrust themselves into the several towns in the colony 
without liberty, it was ordered that any person who presumed to remain 
in any town in the colony, after he had been warned to leave, should pay 
a fine of 20s. a week to the town treasury ; " and in default of payment to sit 
in the stocks for one hour, or else be corporally punished."* Owing to 
neglect of proper care in recording grants, sales, and exchange of lands, it 
became necessary for some regulation to be made by law, whereby the 
owners of houses and lands might legally claim them under the new 
charter; consequently the Assembly passed an act, that any person who 
owned one or more dwellings, and large or small parcels of land, without 
being interrupted by law within the space of twelve months and a day, 
after the publication of this act, should have full power to record and 
receive a record of the same as his own, from the town clerk, witnessed by 
one of the selectmen and an assistant or a commissioner. This act was 
not to be binding upon " orphans under age, or persons in foreign parts." 

At a town meeting held at Fairfield, July 8th, it was voted that there 
should be thirty half-pikes and twenty large pikes, to belong to the town 
magazine, at the disposal of the military officers of the town. The treas- 
urer John Burr was ordered " to care that the pikes were well headed 
with iron ; & to pay the workmen who made them out of the town grass," 
according to his judgment. At a town meeting, September 31st, John 
Banks and William Hill were appointed to survey the Maxumux farms. 
In October the town list of estates was valued at ;^ 10,637, Ss. The Gen- 
eral Assembly granted Major Gold three hundred acres of land for a farm, 
forty acres of which was to be meadow land, if as much could be found, 
provided it did not interfere with any previous grant, or be injurious to 
any plantation. A penny half-penny on a pound was levied to defray the 
colony expenses. The county courts were given liberty to choose their 
own clerks. To prevent advantage being taken of persons by a sudden 
subpoena to attend the particular court, five days' notice was ordered to 
be served on the defendant. The expense of sustaining a large company 
of dragoons resulted in disbanding them in general, and a vote was passed 
that they should join the foot company ; but their pikes, belts, and 
pouches were to be safely preserved by the selectmen, in case they should 
be needed for public use. In case of war, each county was given authority 
to raise troops or dragoons, to be paid out of the county taxes. Fairfield, 
New Haven, and New London were given liberty to raise a standing body 
of dragoons of about forty horsemen, for their defense. 

* Col. Rec. Conn., U., 66. 



138 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [16G8 

In 1667 the demand for a general synod of ministers resulted in the 
General Court changing the name of synod to that of An Assembly of the 
Ministers. This was done to pacify those ministers, who objected to such 
a council being called a synod. On the i6th of May following, the Gen- 
eral Court ordered that the Reverends James Fitch, Gershom Bulkley, 
Joseph Eliot, and Samuel Wakeman should meet at Saybrook or Norwich, 
and consider some way whereby the religious questions in dispute should 
be settled. This step was hailed by many with great satisfaction, as it 
appears to have been the first effort made, which promised the establish- 
ment of a religious constitution ; several years elapsed, however, before this 
desired end was accomplished, although many longed and struggled for 
its successful issue. The third Wednesday in November was appointed a 
day of public thanksgiving for the blessing of civil and ecclesiastical peace, 
for the continuance of the liberties of the people, peace from dreaded 
foreign foes, for blessings on the fruits of the earth, and for the continua- 
tion of health in the plantations. 

At a town meeting December 2, Jehu and John Burr, and John Green 
were appointed to run the boundary line between Fairfield and Stratford 
forthwith ; and to lay out a parsonage lot in Uncoa neck. Complaint 
being made that the lands at Mill plain had not been justly laid out, and 
that the highways had not been kept up ; Jehu Burr, John Wheeler and 
William Hill were appointed " to settle the bounds & lay out highways."* 
Samuel Smith was given liberty to settle in the town, until the 29tli of 
September next, when he was to "depart the town or submit to law." 
Samuel Davis and his heirs were bound in the sum of five pounds, to 
depart the town by Michaelmas next. John Camp was bound in the same 
way. Jonathan Miles was bound in the sum of twenty pounds, unless 
he had further permission to remain. 

On the 28th of April the town voted that Jehu Burr, John Wheeler 
and William Hill, should survey the land between Mill river and the 
Maxumux farmers. Also a highway was ordered to be laid out between the 
meadows of John Green and John Burr on Mill river, and Samuel Ward's 
and the commons. Thomas Staples and John Green were to agree with 
them for a highway over the river. On the ist of February, the salt marsh 
at the Horse-tavern, below the path and pond and swamp that lies in Sasco 
field, was granted for the encouragement of a school. f John Thorp, who 
was ordered in 1667 to leave the town without delay, was at this meeting 

* B, Town Votes, pp. 26, 27. 

\ This school-lot is said to have been between the south-west corner lot opposite the resi- 
dence of the late Frederick Marquand and the brook called the Horse-tavern. 



i668j PROGRESS OF FAIRFIELD ^ I39 

admitted as an inhabitant, and granted the use of two acres of land to 
to improve for seven years. A vote to leave the town did not necessarily 
imply a want of good character, but it was done to give time to ascertain 
whether strangers who appeared among them, were worthy to be made 
members of the community. The townsmen expressed their disapproval 
of the suit brought by Simon Couch and John Andrews, as heirs of 
Francis Andrews, in claiming their rights in his Bankside land, by voting 
that "they should not be accepted as inhabitants of the town." The 
right, however, of this injustice prevailed in the course of time.* 

Henry Jackson, Lieutenant John Squire, Cornelius Hull, John Wheeler 
and John Burr, were appointed a committee, to lay out the dividend of 
land at Greenlea, between the highway and commons and their property.f 
At the May election Major Gold was elected an assistant of the General 
Assembly, William_Hill and Jehu Burr deputies and commissioners for 
Fairfield. I John Barlow, John Sturge (Sturgis), John Hide, Dan". Burr, 
"W™. Ward" And^ Ward, Sam'. Ward, John Bulkley, Thomas Jones, James 
Bennet, Ezekicl Sanford, Richard Ogden, John Cable, jr., Benjamin Tur- 
ney, Thomas Oliver and Dan*. Lockwood, were propounded to be made 
freemen from Fairfield. A day of fasting and prayer was appointed 
on the 29th of May, " to entreat the Lord for the visitation of his provi- 
dence in blasting the increase of the fields; spoiling the fruit of the 
trees; disunion in the plantations in civil & ecclesiastical affairs; & to 
implore mercy of the Lord in behalf of his people in England ; that He 
would cause his face to shine upon them in the wilderness ; visit them 
with mercy ; stay His hand ; establish peace & truth in their habitations; 
continue health among them ; bless the fruits of the earth ; & that He would 
be pleased to guide them in every endeavor to stablish peace & truth among 
them." At the October session of the General Court, a tax was ordered to 
be laid upon the several towns, to defray the expenses of their deputies in 
attending the General Assembly. The Fairfield deputies were allowed £2, 
155. The third Wednesday in November was appointed a general thanks- 
giving for peace, health, etc. At a town meeting held in October, 1668, it 
was voted to lay out a new planting field, between Mill River and the rear 
of the farmers' home-lots, to be divided among all the inhabitants of the 
town, in such proportion as the town should agree upon. Cornelius Hull, 
John Knov/les and Samuel Morehouse were appointed to examine and 
report as to the quality of the land. 

*B, Town Votes, p. 30. 

f Seaside Park and vicinity at Bridgeport. B, Town Votes, p. 28. 

X Col. Rec. Conn., II., 82, 83. 



I40 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1669 

Another new planting field was ordered to be laid between the Uncoa 
river and the Stratford bounds. Richard Hubbell, Humphrey Hide and 
John Sturgis were appointed to survey and report the quantity and 
quality of this land. Jehu Burr, John Wheeler, Cornelius Hull, Nathan- 
iel Seeley and WilHam Hill were appointed to lay out the new planting 
field on the other side of Mill river, to stake out for fencing each man's 
land, and to lay out highways in this and the Uncoa fields, according to 
the old rules of the dividends. 

It was voJ:ed to divide four hundred acres among the owners of estates. 
The waste land at the east side of the creek, and at the harbor and in 
Uncoa neck was to be taken into the division, but the town sedge and 
marsh below the path or highway near the beach, were not to be included. 
Each man was allowed his dividend in the rear of his home-lot, which the 
committee were to exchange to their satisfaction. In case some received 
poor land, it was to be exchanged for better.* 

A considerable tumult was raised at a town meeting held on the 30th 
of January following, by a vote, that only those whose names were con- 
tained in the October list of estates, made by an order of the General 
Court in May,t should share in the land dividends. Against this vote John 
Burr and William Ward protested ; when it was voted, " that those plant- 
ers who had sons of age should have lands for them only as children," and 
not according to the law of the colony, which required that none should 
be made freemen, except such as held an estate valued at eighteen pounds. 
Great dissatisfaction existed because those who had cultivated the eight 
years' lands at Sasqua, were not to be allowed to hold them ; in conse- 
quence of which, on the 15th of March it was voted that no one should 
build upon the lots of the new field at Sasco, or sell the school lands with- 
out permission from the town, under a penalty of i^20. Goodman Joseph 
Middlebrook and Peter Newton were the only dissenting voices. 

The first rules of fencing Vv-ere to be observed in this new dividend. 
The lots were to run east from Frost point to a gate to be made over 
Mill river. The hill in this field on the left " as one goes towards the 
farms commencing at the school land " was also to be laid out. The com- 
mittee was to lay out these lands under the new arrangement for divi- 
dends ; and they were to purchase sufficient lands of the dividend hold- 
ers on the Sasqua and Mill rivers for two gates ; and also for a sea fence. 
The first tier of lots included one-third of this dividend.:}: 

* B, Fairfield Town Votes, pp. 28, 29. 

fCol. Rec. Conn., II., 112, 521. B, Town Votes, p. 30, 31. Appendix No. III. 

If. Appendix Nc. IV. 



1669] PROGRESS OF FAIRFIELD 141 

On the 8th of February it was voted that the remaining two-thirds of 
the dividend should be divided as follows: 

"The town orders y' y= Lots to be drawn for y= Divison of Land att Sasqua, y" two 
thirds of y« dividends, y« Lots to begin, first, by Dan" Frost's Land, So successively, till 
y' being ye first tear be measured out, y= 2^ Tear to Lye on y^ other sitle of y^ Swamp att 
y= head of y« great pond in Sasco field,* being y= next tear y« Lots to begin by y« high 
way by ye Swamp, and so to run till y^ Comittee see Cause to begin to measure on 
y* third tear on ye north side of ye Said Pond, to begin by ye high way on ye Pond, and So 
to run till ye Comittee Sees cause to Cease ; & ye 4"' tear to be on this side of Sasco 
Creek to y* Soutli East side of y^ high way, to begin by ye Southerly End of ye tear and 
so forward to ye Creek : ye 5th tear to lye adjoyning to ye South East side of Sasco River, 
to begin ye southerly side of ye tear and onward ; and y^ Comittee are to allow in 
quantity where mens Lots fall in bad Land, according to their discretion. 

And if any Inhabitant Shall Refuse to fence for his proportion of fence^or his Land in 
ye Said field, ye dividend of Land Shall revert to ye town ; and such shall implead no 
farther interest in ye proportion of Land due in ye above s'l fieUl — those y' have 
y^ Eight years Land in ye Said field, are to possess it peaceably till ye 8 years be 
Expired."! 

A gate was ordered to be made across the Uncoa neck. Major Gold, 
Jehu Burr and William Hill, were appointed a committee to purchase 
from the Indians all lands not yet sold to the tovvn within its bounds. 
John Green was granted 15^ acres of land, if he ran a fence across the 
Sasqua river. Robert Rumsey and John Barlow were allowed six acres 
on Mill river from the west side of Sasqua neck, provided they ran a fence 
over that river from upland to upland. They were not to build upon this 
land ; but each was to maintain a good gate within the line of the public 
fencing. The new dam and bridge over Pine creek having been com- 
pleted on the 5th of April, it was ordered, that Jehu Burr and Thomas 
Staples should lay out the meadow to those to whom it was due. Sam- 
uel Morehouse was granted all the common land on the south-east of the 
old Mill-hill lot, near Concord field. Jehu and John Burr were granted 
liberty to cross Mill river " with a fence at two places at the cartway, which 
crossed the river at the upper meadow." 

This was an exceedingly busy year at Fairfield, but the work of set- 
tling the distribution of lands among the planters in some definite man- 
ner was most desirable. They had as yet no patent right to these lands, 
save that allowed in a general way under the charter of Charles II. They 
hoped in time to receive a town patent, which should confirm to them their 
possession, held under the laws of the colony, which, in a measure, were 
at all times subject to the caprices of the crown. 

* Sasco Lake Pond. f Letter B, Town Votes. Appendix III. 



142 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1669 

111 May, Major Gold was elected an assistant, Mr. William Hill and 
Jehu Burr deputies of the General Assembly; and William Hill and Jehu 
Burr commissioners. Thomas Jones, jr., Josiah Harvey, Richard Lyon, 
John Andrews, Francis Bradley, jr., John Tompkins, and Joseph Middle- 
brook, jr., of Fairfield, were made freemen. Previous to this year the 
Bankside farmers had not been allowed any formal record of their lands. 
The}'', therefore, petitioned the town, to grant them the privilege of 
recording their individual lands. This was granted, and they were 
recorded on the 26th of May. On account of several persons having 
been injured by " disorderly riding in the colony," it was voted that any 
person or persons who should ride through any town, " except in an ordi- 
nary & easy hand gallop," should pay a fine of five shillings. The third 
Wednesday, in June was appointed a day of fasting and prayer. Great 
losses had been sustained the previous year by a blight which had fallen 
upon fruit and grain. Fears were also entertained, that through the 
king's sister, the Duchess of Orleans, he would embrace the Roman 
Catholic religion. Mercy in behalf of the spiritual liberties of his people 
both in England and in the colony, was to be another burden of their sup- 
plications. The value of estates at Fairfield this year was rated at 
;^9,432, Si-. 

The Rev. Samuel Wakeman,* with the ministers chosen to assist in set- 
tling the religious question then in dispute, met at Saybrook at the time 
appointed ; and at the sitting of the General Court of May, 1669, they 
sent in their report which was read and left on file. It appears that 
the congregational mode of government and discipline was approved by 
Mr. Wakeman and his associates, which was confirmed by the General 
Court. " But as there were sundry persons of worth for prudence & 
piety " in the colony, who were otherwise persuaded, the court ordered, 
" that such persons being also approved, according to law, as orthodox 
& sound in the fundamentals of Christian religion, may have allowance 
of their persuasions, & profession in church ways or assemblies without 
disturbance." 

Owing to a serious division in the church at Windsor, as well as a 
strong opposition there to the election and ordination of Mr. Israel 
Chauncey, the General Court appointed the Rev. Mr. Wakeman with other 
ministers in the colony to go to Windsor, and, if possible, settle the 
troubles in that church. It appears that Mr. Chauncey was approved by 
Mr. Wakeman and the ministers associated with him. The General Court 
therefore rendered a decision, that as the church of Windsor was not likely 

*Col. Rec. Conn., II., 84. 



iGGg] PROGRESS OF FAIRFIELD I43 

to settle Mr. Chauncey, therefore all persons at Windsor should contri- 
bute to his maintenance. This was decidedly a strong step on the part 
of the state. 

The unhappy disscntions in the churches, which were the daily 
themes of conversation in Fairfield, and, in fact, in every town in New 
England, resulted in two general fasts within the year, one in June and 
the first four days in October. 

An order was issued that standard weights and measures of brass, 
Winchester measure, scaled with the city seal, should be procured from 
England, for the use of the several towns in the colony. A tax of a penny 
on the pound, was levied for the expenses of the colony. The second 
Tuesday in November, was appointed a general day of thanksgiving. 

The blight upon the grain and fruit, which had caused serious loss 
the previous year, still continued. A spirit of variance in religious opin- 
ions rather increased than diminished. Sickness prevailed universally 
in the towns. In consequence of these afifiictions, the fourth day of 
November was set apart as a day of humiliation, fasting and prayer. 



CHAPTER IV 

I 670- I 680 

AN INTERESTING DECADE 

Social customs. — Assistant and deputies of 1670. — New Milford. — Sheep raising. — Weights and 
measures. — Minister at Rye. — Church and School lands. — Richard Osborn. — East and west 
dividends. — Assistant and deputies of 1672. — Rye and Norwalk committees. — John Wheeler's 
grant. — War between England and Holland. — Nathan Gold commander-in-chief of Fairfield 
county. — Colony laws — Grant of lands to Jehu Burr and Rev. Samuel Wakeman. — Published 
laws. — Postal rouie. — News of the English capture of New Amsterdam. — Action of the 
Genera] Assembly. — Contemplated reduction of the Dutch. — Weapons of warfare. — Town 
improvements. — Prizes taken by the Dutch. — War tax. — Vigilance of Fairfield. — Peace between 
England and Holland. — Rev. Eliphalet Jones sent to Rye. — General training at Fairfield. — 
Overland mail between New York and Boston. — The Duke of York claims all Connecticut. — 
Governor Andros in New York. — General fast in Connecticut. — Indian outrages. — Troops 
disbanded. — Acts for religious duties in families. — To Christianize the Indians' marriages. — 
Sabbaths. 

Thirty years having passed since Roger Ludlow and his associates 
settled Uncoway, we now find Fairfield the shire-town of the county. It 
was large and flourishing, and in point of influence second to no other 
town in the colony. It was represented in the General Assembly and the 
court of commissioners, by men who had been educated at Harvard. 
Every spring and fall its inns and private residences were crowded with 
the ablest men in the country, drawn hither to attend the county courts. 
Judges and commissioners from Long Island, and all classes of people 
from the towns under the jurisdiction of Connecticut, from Milford to 
Westchester, Rye and Long Island made their way here to seek redress for 
wrongs, to contend for their chartered liberties, or to take the oath of alle- 
giance to the king and be made freemen. Stage-coaches had not yet 
become one of the luxuries of New England travel ; and steam engines 
and cars had not entered the wildest imagination. Vessels bringing the 
attendants of the court across from Long Island, anchored in Black R6ck 
harbor, the seaport of Fairfield. 

The town wore a bustling, cheerful appearance on these occasions. A 
liberal old-time hospitality prevailed among all classes. Dinners, tea- 
drinkings, balls and parties were frequent. Grave judges presided in the 
court-room in powdered wigs and scholastic gowns. With all the efforts 



l67o] AN INTERESTING DECADE I45 

made to appear democratic, an aristocratic style was the rule among the 
best famihes. Gentlemen wore long-waisted, tight-fitting coats with skirts 
which reached to the knee, sparkling all the way down the front with 
genuine gold and silver buttons. Their silk and velvet waistcoats were 
embroidered and trimmed with lace, from which immaculate finely worked 
shirt frills stood out conspicuously. High plated stocks of silk or satin, 
stiff with buckram, and fastened behind with silver, steel or brass clasps, 
confined the white frill or collar around the throat. Their breeches were 
of velvet, colored cloth and silk, clasped at the knee over silk stockings, 
with silk and velvet bows, or gold and silver buckles. They also wore 
ribbon bows, and gold and silver buckles on their shoes. Long circular 
cloaks lined with gay colors were w^orn as outside wraps. It was 
about this time that the military cocked hat, with a brim full six inches in 
width was introduced, upon which some wore the long plume of the reign 
of Charles I. This hat was first turned up on one side, then on both sides, 
and finally on three sides. The latter style gave rise to the name of the 
'' three cornered cocked haty Ladies wore rich embroidered and brocaded 
silk and velvet petticoats, with tight-fitting velvet waists and short over- 
skirts of another material ; mutton-leg sleeves, trimmed with turned-up 
white ruffles, fur, lace or fringe. They wore full ruffles of embroidered 
lace or linen cambric around the throat. Gay silk stockings, high-heeled 
silk and satin shoes and slippers, decorated with handsome gold or silver 
buckles, were worn upon their dainty feet. Their hair was dressed high, 
with soft curls around the forehead. Their hats were pretty, with moder- 
ately high crowns and wide brims and feathers. Their cloaks were long, 
graceful and circular in form, often of gay red or blue cloth, and sometimes 
of other material, or velvet, trimmed with fur. Chains for the neck w^ere 
worn by both ladies and gentlemen. Ladies also wore silver and gold 
girdles and chatelaines, from which, on Sundays, were suspended costly 
bound Bibles and hymn-books. 

The first dwellings of our New England ancestors were built of logs, 
and were nothing more than log-cabins. Plastered walls were not common, 
and even among the rich, hangings were used to keep out the cold. The 
poorer classes had floors of clay, and holes in the roofs instead of chimneys, 
for the escape of smoke. Oiled paper served for window-glass. The few 
who possessed glass windows, protected them with great care. Stone 
houses were occasionally built in a very rude and primitive manner. As 
the settlements increased, and saw-mills were erected, frame houses 
appeared, of which some relics are still to be seen at Fairfield. The frames 
of these houses were of oak timbers, from twelve to eighteen inches in 
10 



146 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1670 

diameter. The rafters were but a little smaller, across which " ribs " were 
laid at regular distances. Over these, shingles of cedar were fastened with 
large wrought-iron nails. Oak clapboards, smoothed with a shaving-knife, 
and lapping over each other, covered the sides of the building. Oaken 
planks covered the floors. The rooms on the first floor were not more 
than seven feet in height, and about six and a half on the second floor. 
The beams, with the planks of the second floor, formed the ceilings of the 
first story. Panes of diamond shape, set in two leaden frames fastened to 
the sides of the house, and opening from the centre outward, were the 
style of windows used. The outer doors were made of double oaken 
planks, fastened together with large iron nails or spikes, in the angles of 
diamonds. For a long time the outer doors were secured by heavy bars 
of wood, and afterwards with large iron hinges and latches. The latter were 
made fast with an oaken plug of wood, which hung in the day time from a 
string attached to the latch. When in use the latch was dozvn. The 
expression " the latch is always tip for you " was a frequent mode of wel- 
come. At a later date enormous locks and keys, with brass or iron door- 
knockers came into use. 

Besides the kitchen and bed-room adjoining it, there were but seldom 
more than two rooms on the first floor. In the course of time, among the 
rich, the fire-places in the best parlor and the sitting-room were bordered 
with earthen and China tiles, painted in various designs of birds, and mytho- 
logical figures, or with men, women, and children, dressed in the fashions 
of those days. Highly polished andirons, and brass fenders were used in 
these fire-places. On the mantel-piece above, were silver, glass, or brass 
candlesticks, with dipped candles of home-make, and also small trays 
for the snuffers. Over the mantel was usually a closet in the bricks. The 
most wonderful part of one of these dwellings was the chimney, built in the 
centre of the house upon a stone foundation of twelve feet square. The 
fire-place in the kitchen extended across the full length of the chimney. 
The hearth consisted of one or more large flat stones, fitted into the floor, 
and extending well out into the room. From heavy iron sockets, fastened 
on the right side against the back of the chimney, swept a long iron crane. 
From this hung iron trammels, each with rows of holes one above the other, 
into which hooks were fitted, by means of which the pots and kettles used 
in cooking could be raised or lowered over the fire. On the right side, and 
opening into the chimney, was built a huge brick oven used for baking 
purposes. Near the front of the fire-place, on each side of the jambs, were 
seats of brick, on which a person could sit with ease, and on a cold winter's 
day with comfort. It was not an unusual thing in the early part of winter 



1670] AN INTERESTING DECADE I47 

to see hams and pieces of bacon suspended from a long pole, fastened at a 
sufficient height up the chimney to smoke and yet not to cook them.* 

The manner of building a fire in these chimneys was one of the 
scientific arts of the time. First a huge green log of oak or hickory, full 
six or seven feet long, was brought in, and placed against the back of the 
chimney. This was called the back-log. On the top of this was laid another 
log, not quite as large however, called the back-stick. The ponderous 
iron andirons, surmounted with Turks-heads, were then placed against the 
back-log. Well towards the front of the andirons was laid another round, 
knotty stick of medium size, called the fore-stick, between which, and 
the back log, chips, dry pine, and split wood were curiously filled in. 
Then a tin tinder-box was brought into use, which resembled a tin 
pint-cup with a lid, on the top of which was a candle-socket. There 
was an inner lid which covered the tow, or tinder, and upon which, when 
not in use, a piece of rough steel and a flint stone were kept. The only 
matches known in those days were of home manufacture, and consisted 
of pine splints tipped with roll brimstone. It happened occasionally that 
a housekeeper neglected to keep her tinder-box well filled, and her matches 
prepared when her only resort to kindle a fire was to borrow a shovelful 
of burning coals from the nearest neighbor, who not unfrequently lived 
two miles distant. A fire was kindled by striking the flint stone against 
the rough steel ; the tinder caught fire from the sparks, from which the 
brimstone splints were lighted, and immediately applied to the pine wood 
in the fire-place, when with one loud roar, quite equal to artillery, the blaz- 
ing wood leaped up the great throat of the chimney in streams of flaming 

* One of these enormous chimneys, on either side of which are seats in the jambs, is still to be 
seen in the old Hubbell mansion at Greenfield hill. The crane, now quite two hundred years old, 
with the iron trammels and hooks, swings in the chimney. A long kitchen extends across the 
entire back of the house, taking in the lean-to and the old fashioned pantries. The floors and 
doors throughout the house are of oak. High carved mahogany chairs grace the parlor. On the 
old-fashioned square table are books of great age, and beside them Miss Priscilla Hubbell's beau- 
tiful toilet-case of cut-glass bottles, which her lover brought her all the way from Europe almost a hun- 
dred years ago, before he went away to sea for the last time and was lost. Ch ina and cut glass, pewter 
platters and table vessels, quite as old as the house, decorate the table. Home-spun table linen, 
marked 1700, exhibits the taste, as well as the skill and industry of this family in colonial times. 
In one of the bed-rooms is an ingrain carpet, which was one of the first of its kind brought to this 
country. High-post bedsteads, and the warming-pan have been permitted to survive the mania of 
the early part of the present century, when so much that was venerable and valuable was cast aside 
or destroyed. The well-curb, the long hickory sweep, the iron chain, and the old oaken bucket, 
which yields the spring water in such purity and sweetness as no other human invention has ever 
rivaled, are still to be seen under the shade of the old maples, elms and button balls of two hundred 
years or more. 



148 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1670 

fire. The sap which oozed from the ends of the green v.'ood sent out a most 
delicate and pleasant odor through the room, all aglow with cheerful light. 

" And for the winter's fireside meet," 
Between the andirons' straddHng feet, 
The mug of cider simmered slow, 
The apples sputtered in a row. 
And close at hand, the Imsket stood 
With nuts from brown October's wood." 

If the green wood at any time defied the strong draft of the chimney, 
a pair of hand bellows, which usually hung by the side of the fire-place, was 
brought into use. 

The food of our ancestors, for the first fifty years or more, consisted 
mostly of wild game, bear's flesh, venison, swine and poultry. Cattle and 
sheep were not often killed until the herds became numerous. Even milk 
at first was used almost by drops, lest the supply of cream for butter and 
cheese should fall short in the winter. The chief viands at breakfast were 
wheaten, Indian, and corn breads, Johnny-cakes, apple-pie, cheese, gin- 
gerbread and doughnuts, with some substantial dish of meat, game, fish or 
pork. Hasty-pudding and milk, bean-porridge soup, flavored with salt pork, 
and home-made beer, took the place of coffee and tea. Tea was but little 
known among our ancestors until about 1750, and coffee not until 1770. 
And tea even then, the English found to their cost, we could afford to do 
without. The price of tea in 1745 was from one pound eight shillings, to 
one pound ten shillings per pound. In the course of time, when the apple 
and peach orchards were of yielding age, cider, with apple and peach 
•brandy came into common use. The orchards were kept with great care, 
and a keeper was appointed by the town to nurse and attend to them. 
But while our forefathers indulged in the use of home-made brandy, they 
did so with judgment. The disgrace of being intoxicated cost too much 
in those days to be frequently indulged in, as will be shown hereafter. 
There is no doubt but that some of them were occasionally iinpritdent and 
took a little too much, but what they drank was free from adulteration. 
They knew nothing of the vile concoctions of the modern day which fire 
the brain with madness, and incite deeds of horror almost without par- 
allel in the world's history. 

The dinner hour was at noon, and was called the hour of " nooning^ 
The first course for many years was a large Indian-meal pudding, with an 
appropriate sauce. ' An old gentleman living at Southport relates the story 
of a farmer at Greenfield Hill, who was so mean as not to be willing that 



1670] AN INTERESTING DECADE 1 49 

his slaves should cat freely of turkey and goose on a Thanksgiving-Day, 
and gave out word that the one who ate the niost liberally of pudding 
should have the most turkey and goose. Not seeing the trap set for them, 
the poor things ate so much pudding that they had no appetite left for 
anything else, over which some of them cried with vexation. Boiled pork 
accompanied with vegetables, boiled, baked and roast beef, venison, and 
poultry, were among the principal dishes at dinner. Roast meats and 
poultry were cooked before the fire in a tin oven with an open front, some- 
times called a Dutch oven. Turkeys and geese were often roasted before 
the fire, and were suspended by a long string from tlie ceiling, and turned 
frequently by some person stationed to attend to them. 

An amusing story is told of a little colored boy who, upon seeing the 
string break on a Thanksgiving Day, ran into the parlor, crying out, " O, 
Massa ! please come, de Thanksgiving has tumbled into de fire and dirtied 
hiself all ober ! " 

Succotash was an Indian dish which the English soon learned the art 
of preparing. Baked beans, boiled and baked Indian puddmg, samp and 
hominy were every-day dishes. Fish was eaten on Saturday, but never 
on Friday. 

The tea consisted of cold meats, delicious corn and rye bread, and 
plain cakes. The latter were baked in an iron covered vessel called a 
spider, set upon a bed of coals, and with coals heaped on the lid. Raised 
cake, or loaf-cake filled with plums, in the course of time, became a favor- 
ite cake at weddings, and was far more delicious than the unwholesome 
black fruit-cake that of late years has taken its place. Hartford loaf-cake 
and election-cake no modern housekeeper could surpass. 

The principal table utensils were made of pewter, which came in sets 
of platters, plates, spoons, and tea dishes. The platters and plates some- 
times were ornamented with the family coat of arms. These pewter sets 
were kept well polished and shone like silver. Some of the rich had 
spoons, flagons, beakers, and cups of silver. But as a general thing such 
table Avare was not very abundant. 

The labor of making a general division of the lands embraced within 
the town limits, continued to be carried forward with great energy. From 
the west slope of Golden-hill almost to the Saugatuck river, the dwellings 
of its inhabitants dotted the valley and hills along the Sound. English 
grass covered the cultivated meadows ; and wheat, corn, barley, rye and 
oats abounded in rich profusion. Herds of sheep, horses and cattle were 
plentiful. In addition to a large tract of land already granted to the 
Rev. Samuel Wakeman, near the Saugatuck river, the town ordered five 



150 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1670 

acres at the pines, between Pine creek and the beach, and eighteen at 
Round-hill to be laid out to him. 

Richard Ogden purchased the mill he had erected on Mill river from 
the town, February 15th. A fence was ordered to be made across the 
great meadow from Paul's neck to Pine creek, to close it in from the 
beach, at the expense of the town. 

The members of Christ's Church in Fairfield entertained a strong 
desire at this time, that Eliphalet, son of the Rev. John Jones, should 
settle among them. In the month of March, by a vote of the freemen of 
the town, he was invited to become an assistant of the Rev. Mr. Wake- 
man, with a salary of forty pounds annually and eight or ten acres of land 
on the east side of Uncoway river, provided he accepted the call, and 
remained among them. Whether on account of a proposal that his salary 
should be paid out of the town rate for the minister's support, by which 
the Rev. Samuel Wakeman would fall short forty pounds of his salary, or 
a preference for some other place, Mr. Jones did not accept the call ; 
but in 1672, at which time he was preaching at Greenwich, he was invited 
by the town of Stamford to become a minister in that place, " if he 
removed from Greenwich." He soon after accepted the call. 

Meanwhile trouble arose about the salary of the Rev. Mr. Wakeman. 
The parsonage, which had been promised him at the time he became the 
minister of Fairfield, had been completed, and he was allowed to occupy 
it provided he kept it in repair. On the 22d of the following month a 
vote was passed at a town meeting: 

" Whereas by an order bearing date Jan. 30, 1668 there was an hundred pounds a 
year, with the use of the swamps & parsonage land granted unto the ministry, the town 
upon good reasons moving them thereto, repeal the said order, & in lieu thereof, they do 
grant unto Mr. Wakeman the use of the swamps & parsonage lands, until the town shall 
otherwise order ; & also towards his maintenance the present year, they will pay to raise 
his maintenance by a voluntary contribution." 

At the same time, Mr. Wakeman was voted a meet proportion of the 
dividend lands of the town. None of these proposals, however, appear to 
have satisfied Mr, Wakeman, who, no doubt, according to the usages of 
those days, did not feel that he could afford to give up the regular tax laid 
upon the church and town for the maintenance of its minister. He there- 
fore remonstrated against the vote to pay his salary by a voluntary contri- 
bution, and appealed his case to the General Court, which granted him two 
hundred acres of land, "to be taken up where it may not prejudice former 
grants to any plantation or particular person." 

At the May court of election, Major Gold was made an assistant of 



r67o] AN INTERESTING DECADE I5I 

the General Assembly; John and Jehu Burr deputies; and Jehu Burr and 
William Hill commissioners for Fairfield.* Richard Osborn, Isaac Hall, 
Isaac Wheeler, Samuel Treadwell, Samuel Hall, Joseph Whelpley and 
Samuel Smith were nominated to be made freemen. The increasing 
number of freemen and the inconvenience of so large a body attending 
the annual court of election at Hartford, led to the passage of an act, 
that the freemen throughout the jurisdiction of Connecticut might "appear 
in person or send proxies " to consummate the election of the governor, 
deputy-governor, assistants and other public officers under the charter. 
That fraud by proxies might be prevented, it was enacted that " a copy 
of the names of those persons who should be nominated in October for 
the May election should be sent to each town, & published by the con- 
stables to the freemen." The constables were ordered to summon the 
freemen to meet annually on the last Tuesday in April, and first to read 
to them the freeman's oath and the penalty of disorderly voting. They 
were then to be presented with the nominees of the General Assembly of 
October, out of which number each person was to give the constable of 
his town " the name of him whom he would have for governor, fairly 
written upon a piece of paper." The constables with the commissioners 
or one of the deputies of the town were ordered to receive these papers, 
and in the presence of the freemen put them up in pieces of paper, and 
seal them up, and write upon the outside of the paper the name of 
the town and these words, "The vote of the Governor." The deputy- 
governor, treasurer and secretary, deputies and other officers were to be 
elected in the same way. The constables or deputies were then ordered 
to deliver the sealed votes, with the names of all the voters at the annual 
election at Hartford, to which they were to make oath. Such names as the 
freemen wished to be presented for nomination, were likewise to be writ- 
ten on slips of paper, and sealed before being presented to the Assembly. 
Major Gold, Jehu Burr, and John Burr, were granted liberty to pur- 
chase Wyantenuck and the lands adjacent for a plantation. Nathan Gold, 
Jehu Burr, and William Hill, of Fairfield, Thomas Fairchild, of Stratford, 
and Thomas Fitch, of Norwalk, were appointed a committee " for the 
well ordering of the same, & also to entertain the inhabitants." Any of 
the honest inhabitants of the colony were invited " to be entertained 
there till the place was filled." If the place was not planted in four years, 
it was to return to the town.f 

*Col. Rec. Conn., II., 126, 127, 131. 

f This grant comprised the present township of New Milford, together with the adjoining 
townships on the south-west. — Col. Rec. Conn., II., 128. 



152 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1670 

Major Gold was instructed to administer the oath of a commissioner to 
Mr. John Holly, sr., of Stamford, after he had taken the freeman's oath. 
The names nominated for freemen from Fairfield in October were accepted, 
and they were ordered to take the freeman's oath before the magistrates 
of the town. Those who took the freeman's oath at this time were Rev. 
Eliphalet Jones, Josiah Harvey, Richard Lyon, John Andrews, Francis 
Bradley, John Tompkins, and Joseph Middlebrook. At a town meeting, 
held September 10, an agreement was made with the Indians for six miles 
of land lying north of the original purchase, for ^^30, to be paid in truckling 
or trading cloth, at los. a yard. Mr. Jehu Burr was appointed to provide 
the cloth, and the town engaged to pay him for it in winter wheat at 5^^. 
per bushel, or Indian corn at 2^. per bushel, at or before the last of Jan- 
uary. A tax was laid upon the town in specie to pay for the purchase of 
this cloth. 

It was also ordered that the land should be cleared, and that stones be 
gathered in heaps upon the commons. At a town meeting, held Septem- 
ber 28th, Richard H-ubbell was appointed to buy about thirty yards of 
truckling cloth to pay the Indians; and if he failed, Daniel Burr and John 
Banks were to make the purchase. Major Gold and Jehu Burr were 
appointed two of a committee by the General Assembly in October, "to 
agree with some meet person, to keep the ferry between Stratford & 
Milford for twenty-one years." Jehu Burr was made one of a committee to 
appraise the lands " belonging to the several plantations in the colony," 
and make a report to the Assembly. The valuation of the list of personal 
estates at Fairfield this year was ^10,201, ^d. A purchase of lands made 
by Thomas Hopewell, of an Aspetuck Indian, was referred to the county 
court of Fairfield. 

Every male in the plantations " from fourteen years old & upward, 
except assistants, commissioners, or ministers of the gospel," was ordered 
to work one day annually, in June, in cutting clown and clearing under- 
wood, " that so there may be pasture, under a penalty of five shillings." 
If the officers of the town neglected to appoint a day for this work, a fine 
of five pounds v/as imposed upon them. The standard brass weights and 
measures having been procured from England, each county was ordered 
to furnish itself with a necessary set of each kind, as approved and tried 
by the colony standards at Hartford. Before the expiration of nine 
months each town was ordered to be furnished with a suitable set of the 
same ; and those of each particular person were to be tested by the town 
standard within ten months, under a penalty of 5^-. for every breach of 
this law. George Graves and Sergeant Joseph Nash were appointed to 



1670] AN INTERESTING DECADE • 1 53 

seal with the colony stamp the county measures. Captain Nathan Gold 
was made one of a committee to examine the lands at the "■ farr Mill 
River,'' which some of the inhabitants of Stratford had petitioned, through 
Assistant Sherman, should be granted for a plantation. It was ordered 
that the governor, deputy-governor, and assistants should be chosen out 
of those nominated by the October court to stand for election in May, 
any order to the contrary notwithstanding. In compliance with this 
order, the Assembly proceeded to nominate the officers for the spring 
election. William Hill, of Fairfield, was nominated for an assistant judge 
of the General Court. The county court of Fairfield was recommended 
to take an effectual course to settle an able orthodox minister in the town 
of Rye, and to order a competent salary for his maintenance, "with coer- 
cion of payment, according to law, if any were opposed to this order." 
The well affected of the said town " to a settlement of such a mercy among 
them," were referred to the county court at Fairfield. 

The third Wednesday in November was appointed a general thanks- 
giving in all the towns in the colony to praise God " for the continuation 
of the Gospel of Peace ; so good a measure of health ; the removal of 
sickness from some of the plantations ; for a blessing upon their labors & 
upon the fruits of the earth ; & for the peace of the country." Richard 
Osborn, Isaac Hall, Isaac Wheeler, Samuel Treadwell, Samuel Hall, Jo- 
seph Whelpley, and Samuel Smith were accepted as freemen of Fairfield. 
The following document gives an interesting idea of the fencing of the 
large lots of the Bankside farmers. 

" Dec aS"' Whereas att y* Last town meeting Mr Gold and Will'" Hill were ap- 
pointed to Settle y'^ fence pertaining to y^ home-Lots att Maxumux, y'= Settlement y -of, 
^yth ye Consent of Jn" Green Robt. Beachem, Jos. Lockwood, Simon Couch & Jn° An- 
drus are as foUoweth. 

1. It is agreed y' Each of y« four great Lots Shall fence both y* Ends of y<='' Lots and 
one Side, being y East Side of y"' Lots. 

2. It is agreed y' y*^ Side on y^ out Side of Andrews Lot, Shall be fenced in Comon, by 
y= proprietors of y^<= four Lots Equally dividid, which doth amount to Eighteen Rods and 
half to a Lot, Jos. Lockwood to begin on ye Lower End, and So each Lot to fence it Suc- 
cessively. 

3. We find & it is so to Stand y' Andrews Successors are to do Jn° Green's Sliare 
offence, in y« Said Comon fence, and y= Said Jn° is to maintain twenty rods of y' di- 
viding line of fence between him and Couch and Andrews, att y« front I^nd of ye Line, 
this is in lieu of w' is done for him in y Cofhon Line of fence. 

4. Simon Couch is to maintain all Robt. Beachem's Share of Common fence, and in 
lieu y" of, Jn° Green is to maintain Eighteen rods and half of fence in y« dividing 
fence between Couch and him, next to w' he now maintains; and for Satisfaction to 
Jn" Green for y^ fence, he doth maintain for Couch, y^ Said Robt. is to make and main- 



154 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1671 

tain Eighteen rods and half of fence upon y« dividing line, between him and Jn^ Green 
att y« Rear end of y^ line. Jn° Andrews must make and maintain all y'= fence between 
him and Jn° Green as far as his Land goes, and y« Said Andrews proportion of Comon 
fence for his land is agreed to be three rods, w<=i> is to be made in y^ line between Couch 
and him.* 

At a town meeting held on the 14th of January, it was voted that there 
should be a division of the greater part of the undivided lands to the 
owners of estates, according to the list as it then stood. A new rule for 
division was adopted. Each master of a family was granted " thirty 
pounds, a wife ten pounds, & a child ten pounds, to be added to the list 
of estates ; " and each individual was to receive his dividend according to 
the total sum of his estate. The happy man Vvho was father of a large 
family, gained his acres in proportion to each youthful head. William 
Hill was authorized to draw up a list for the division of lands, A tax was 
ordered to be forthwith levied on all the inhabitants of the town, who had 
aright to share in the land dividends, to pay the Indians. f If any failed 
to pay their rate according to this order, their lands and goods were sub- 
ject to a fine. Obediah Gilbert was appointed receiver of the peas, corn, 
etc., to be sent in, for which he was to be paid three half pence per bushel, 
for his trouble. The west farmers were to deliver their rates by the i6th 
of February, and the east farmers on the 17th. The receiver was to pay 
in to the town, as much as he received by the first of June. 

That the heirs of those who had died, and others who were absent, 
might not suffer loss in the division, provision was made, that their tenants 
or those engaged in improving their lands, should receive under their 
care, the new dividends. Samuel Drake's tenant, John Loom, was to 
receive his proportion. Thomas Lyon was to receive his dividend in his 
own right from his tenant. Samuel Goodwin was to have his proportion 
as a master of a family. Daniel Finch was to have his dividend according 
to his tenant, Henry Castle's list of his estate. Phebe and Deborah Bar- 
low, the sole surviving heirs of Thomas Barlow, v/ere to receive their father's 
proportion from their tenant, Edward Wilson. Isaac Sherwood and Na- 
thaniel Perry, were to receive theirs as masters of a family. Sarah Wilson, 
a daughter of Rev. John Jones, who was first a widow of Thomas Bulkley 
and at this time the widow of Antony Wilson, was to receive her propor- 
tion as a master of a family. Ezborn Wakeman, a cousin of the Rev. 

* B, Town Votes, p. 28. 

t A deed of this land was drawn up and dated 19th of January, 1670, and is recorded in B of 
Town Votes ; but for some reasons, it was neither signed nor witnessed by the Indians or English 
purchasers. From this time, however, it appears to have been paid for, and regarded as fully pur- 
chased by the townsmen. 



i67i] AN INTERESTING DECADE 1 55 

Samuel Wakeman, was granted a share in the dividend at the rate of 
;^20 estate. Major Gold was voted two hundred and fifty acres to be 
added to his proportion. Stephen Sherwood in like manner was granted 
an addition of eighty acres. George Squire, jr., was granted a child's por- 
tion, according to his list of estate from his father,* The town had voted 
thus far in attempting to deal righteously with its widows and orphans, 
when the idea probably occurred to it, that the vote in reference to orphans 
and widows was sufificient to cover such claims, and the matter was 
abruptly brought to a conclusion by a vote: "That the town hath put a 
stop to any farther grant of any commonage forever." John Banks and 
Cornelius Hull were appointed to advise together, as to the best way to 
lay out the commons, and make a report to the next town meeting. On 
the 30th of January the townsmen assembled again and voted the follow- 
ing plan for distributing the lands within the township. 

Whereas y= Town hath already Concluded to divide 7"= Greatest part of y® Commons 
to y6 Several Inhabitants, y= town hath this day ordered y' y" Shall be a dividend of Land, 
taken up by y^ Several Inhabitants of y= Town y* have Right to Divide, upon botli y^ Sides 
of y® Town, to Each Inhabitant proportionable to y^ due. 

Y^ Dimensions of y^ field is as hereafter followeth: it is ordered y' y« west Dividend is 
to begin by Norwalk bounds, and to run back Eight Score rod, and So to Run towards 
y' Town Eastward from y« Said bounds about two miles and half: and y'= Dividend of 
y= East End of y^ Town is to Run from Stratford bounds westward, it is to run a mile and 
half, Running back Eight Score Rods, ify^Comons will bare it. Those Lots are to be 
taken into fence, when Each Inhabitant Shall See cause to make Such use of it as they 
Shall think meet : it is also ordered y' y" Shall be a Line drawn from y« bounds of Strat- 
ford to y^ bounds of Norwalk, leaving Sufficient high wayes between y= farms and y^ Divi- 
dends : it is also ordered y' y*^ Lands Contained between y^ abovesaid two Dividends, 
Shall be alotted to y^ Several Inhabitants proportionably for pastures for men to fence y'' 
when y please, those pastures to begin att y^ East End of y<= Town ntt y^ hither End of 
y« East dividend, and So to Run west to y= Mill-River, and to run back into y« woods 
Eight Score Rods : also y^ pastures on y^ other Side of y= Mill-River to begin Southward 
and So to Run Northward, to Run back eight Score rods to y^ building Dividend : these 
pastures are not to be built upon — if any man in future Time Shall build upon his pasture, 
he Shall forfeit his pasture into y^ hands of y^ Town, its' also ordered y' y« farmers att 
Each End of y= Town, Shall have y'' pastures adjoyned to y' building Dividends the town 
hath also ordered y' y° abovesaid Dividends, both building and pasturing. Shall be taken 
up by y<= Inhabitants of y« Town by house-Row, they to Run as followeth. y^ widow 
Wheeler to begin next to Stratford bounds, and So y« neighbours to take up Successively 
westward as y Lands lye, till you come to Rob' Turney's, he included : then to begin att 
Edward Adams, and So all those lying between, till you take Goodman Meacars and 
Goodman Jennings : then to begin att Hendricks and to Run to M"" Wakemans : then to 
begin att M' Golds and Will"" Hills, and to Run up y' Street till it Issue wth Jn** Bulkly : 

* B, Town Votes, pp. 30, 40. 



156 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1671 

then to begin vv*'' Couch -anti Andrus till farms have y^ due next Norwalk bounds, and So 
to Run Eastward : then to begin att R. Ogdens, to begin his proportion of his building 
dividend where y« farms Ended, and he is to begin upon y« pastures over y^ mill-River 
Southward, and So y« neighbours Successively, till you come to Mr. Harvie's, he included: 
then to begin w'*" Thos. Sherwington, and So up w"' y' Street on both sides of y^ high way 
till you come to Barlow's children, they Included ; each Inhabitant to have y proportions 
as this Land ordered to be divided, as the quantity y of will allow. 

The Town hath ordered y' y Shall be a Common a Cros y« Town bounds adjoining to 
ye northwest Side of y= abovesaid pastures, to be half a mile broad, to be a Comon for 
Ever. 

The Town hath ordered y' y Shall be one mile bron,d from y^ abovesaid half mile 
Common to Run into y^ Country to y« End of y« bounds, to Remain a Common for ever ; 
it is also ordered y' all y^ Lands on both Sides of y<= mile Common (necessary high wayes 
Excepted) Shall be laid out to y'^ Inhabitants of y« Town, y' have Right to divide propor- 
tionably according to y"" Due ; to be laid out by house Row according to y« method pre- 
scribed in y^ abovesaid order, about laying out pastures and building Lots. Widow 
Wheeler to begin next to Stratford bounds and Simon Couch and Andrews to begin next 
Norwalk bounds, and So y^ neighbourhood to take it up Successively inward, till all have 
y"" proportions. 

Jn°- Banks, Serg'- Squire, Cor : Hull and Mr. Harvy are appointed to layout y'= above- 
said building Lots and pastures, and to lay out w' high wayes they think necessary among 
ye Said Lots and pastures : also they are appointed to lay to every man his proportion of 
Lands on y^ abovesaid Lands, lymg on both Sides of y^ mile Common : Every man to 
begin in his place next to y« half mile Common, and so to Run back to y'= End of our 
bounds, necessary high wayes to be laid out.* 

The highway which divided the half mile of common from the mile of 
common and the Long lots, began a little below Sherwood's grist mill, 
above Toilesome hill at Bridgeport, ran a little above the Stratfield Bap- 
tist church, crossed Mill river below Samp-mortar rocks, through the elm 
groves to the foot of Greenfield hill and the estates of Frederick Bronson 
Esq., and David Banks, through Hull's farms, past the old school-house; 
ran above the Adams' academy at Green's farms, to the blacksmith's shop 
at Westport, and continued on to the old bridge, which crosses the Sauga- 
tuck river at Westport. The highway which ran below the half mile of 
common and the building and pasture lots, is at the present day, mostly in 
constant use, although some parts of it, like the above highway, has 
become overgrown with grass, shrubs, and vines. It began at the corner 
of Division avenue and the King's highway, at Bridgeport, ran to Jack- 
son's, now Moody's mill, and through chair swamp, forked to the north- 
west from the King's highway at the Jew cemetery, ran over Holland hill, 
past General Silliman's estate, to the rear of Osborn's and Round hills, to 

*B, Town Votes, p. 41. See Map of Fairfield, Frontispiece. 



i67i] AN INTERESTING DECADE 1 57 

Richard Ogden's mill, now Burr Perry's mill, at Mill plain ; there forded 
Mill river, ran past the estate of the late Abel Beers, over Mill hill, and 
the grass-grown road, a little north-west of the present turnpike at South- 
port, crossed the turnpike below Sasco mill-ponds, and the farms of Joel 
and Francis Buckley, wound from E. Mills' corner, ran over Turkey hill to 
the farms of William Jennings, T. B. and H. B. Wakeman's, crossed Muddy 
brook below the Green's Farms church, at Rev. Dr. Hezekiah Ripley's old 
homestead ; and continued south-west, crossing the New York and New 
Haven Railroad west of Sherwood's island ; re-crossed the railroad, and 
wound to the road at Compo, which runs due north to Westport village. 
The King's highway began at the corner of Division street, and ran west 
of Mountain Grove cemetery and Moody's mill, and is now called the 
back road to Bridgeport ; from the fork of the road at the Jew cemetery 
south-west to the estate of the late John Gould, of Fairfield, through the 
main street of Fairfield, and through Mill plain, where it ran to the high- 
way which lay on the south of the half mile of commons, and the building 
and pasture lots to Westport. 

The views of Long Island Sound and of the surrounding country to be 
seen from these highways are very beautiful. 

It is the intention of the author of this work to give a second and 
larger map in the second volume, containing the lines of these highways, 
and of the highways between the Long lots, which were renewed about 
the middle of the eighteenth century. 

The village of Greenfield was afterwards built upon the mile of com- 
mon, the south-east corner of which is bounded by the road which 
crosses the main road at the foot of the long hill leading up to the meeting- 
house. The half mile of common, which extended across the town, 
formed the division line between the building and pasture lots on the 
south-east and the Long lots above it. The Long lots commenced on the 
north-west of the half mile of common, and lay on the east and west sides 
of the mile of common, which extended to the north limits of the town. 

The Rev. Samuel Wakeman was voted a share in the dividends, accord- 
ing to his proportion of ratable estate. In this dividend, parsonage land 
was ordered to be set off at the rate of two hundred pounds' estate, and 
school lands in the same manner. The liberality shown to the Rev. Samuel 
Wakeman exhibited the spirit of those days, and the high esteem and 
reverence paid to the minister of God. It was voted that hired servants 
should not be included as members of a family, thus preventing an over 
share of land, by increasing the number of heads of families. On the 15th 
of February the names of Hendrick Henrickson, Daniel Silliman and John 



158 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1671 

Applegate were added to the list of dividend sharers, according to their 
list of estates. Simon Couch and John Andrews, in right of their deceased 
father Francis Andrews, were voted to receive their dividends only as 
one master of a family, which lands should be equally divided between 
them. They were also ordered to divide a portion of land at a place 
called the Horse-pasture, then in controversy, among the five Bankside 
farmers. 

It was voted that highways should not be " run across any man's build- 
ing or pasture lot." The town granted Sergeant Seely '' for his work about 
the meeting-house, the high way running through the neck below his house 
at the creek, & between him & Paul's Neck." By this vote it would appear, 
that with the repairs which had previously been made upon the meeting- 
house, it had become a goodly structure, equal to any in the colony in size 
and in comfortable accommodations. 

Particular attention was directed to the Rev. Samuel Wakeman's farm 
at Saugatuck, by a vote, that he should have the privilege of annexing to 
it, according to his list of ratable estate, the use of the undivided com- 
mons for grazing his cattle. The idea appears to have existed that while 
the boundary line between Norwalk and Fairfield was in dispute, the grant 
of a large farm to Mr. Wakeman, and the use of land adjoining it, would 
hold the Norwalk planters at bay ; the influence of a minister in those days 
being equal to that of the whole town. 

Nathaniel Seely, John Wheeler and John Green, were appointed to 
settle the bounds of the school lands in Sasco. On the i8th of April John 
Green was granted three acres of land above the bridge over Sasco river, 
" provided he maintained a gate-way at the front west corner of Daniel 
Frost's lot, to be well hung with necessary hinges." 

On the 19th of April "the meadow at Sasco Neck below the bridge & 
above the dam, was confirmed to John Banks & those connected with him, 
in erecting a dam at Pine Creek." 

At the same meeting, a new order of dividend was proposed ; which 
was, that the dividend line between the building lots, pasture lots, and the 
half mile of common should run as follows : 

" There shall be a straight line from Stratford bounds to y« further corner of y« Round- 
hill, next y^ Mill River, so as to clear y« cartway y' runs to Goodman Jackson's beyond 
Chair-swamp ; & from y= said corner of Round-hill y« line is to run straight to Goodman 
Ogden's chimney of his dwelling ; & from thence y^ line is to run straight to y« bounds 
already appointed near Norwalk bounds ; so as to clear a sufficient highway over Muddy- 
creek, where y« way goes over from y^ farms over y^ said creek. Also the town orders 
that y« tier of pastures that lie on the west side of the Mill-River, shall run in y^ same 



1671] AN INTERESTING DECADE 1 59 

range as y^ building lots do; & Goodman Ogden to begin next y^ building lots, & so 
y« neighborhood to take up successively, as is formerly ordered."* 

Among those who had been nominated in October for the following 
year at the May election, Major Gold was chosen an assistant of the General 
Assembly; William Hill and John Burr deputies, and William Hill and Jehu 
Burr commissioners from Fairfield. Trouble having arisen at Rye, in regard 
to the discontent of some of the inhabitants with the new order of things, 
Nathan Gold and John Burr were made two of a committee to "repair 
thither, to compose the troubles & to procure an orthodox minister to settle 
there." If the inhabitants of Rye did not concur with the endeavors of 
the committee, they were invested with authority " to settle a minister for 
the work of that place," and to grant him a rate of forty pounds, which 
should be levied on all the inliabitants for this purpose, to be collected by 
the constable with the colony rate. Simon Couch, of Bankside, was so 
much aggrieved because the lands, which had been expressly stipulated in 
the agreement of 1666 should continue in the possession of the Bankside 
farmers, were included in the dividend lands, that he brought an action 
against the town for his rights in those lands from his father-in-law Francis 
Andrews. The matter was referred to Nathan Gold, William Hill and 
John Burr to settle as speedily as possible ; and if they did not satisfy the 
said Simon Couch, he was given liberty to present his case to the next 
October session of the Assembly. Jeremiah Adams gave his note of los. 
to pay for preseiiting this petition. 

Richard Osborn, of Fairfield, was granted " eighty acres of land for his 
good services in the Pequot war." 

John Banks and seven others belonging to the neighboring plantations, 
were granted liberty to purchase lands of the Indians, provided such pur- 
chases were at the disposal of the General Assembly, upon the said gentle- 
men being duly remunerated. 

The governor, deputy-governor and the assistants of the Assembly, 
" were appointed a committee to examine the code of laws prepared by 
Roger Ludlow in 1650, & revise them for publication." The assistants at 
the seaside were particularly mentioned in this order. The towns were 
ordered " to pay for the hire of their deputies horses," while attending the 
General Assembly. The third Wednesday in June was appointed a day 
of fasting and prayer. 

Upon the return of the magistrates from the General Assembly, a town 
meeting was held on the 14th of June, when it was voted to divide the 

* B, Town Voles, p. 43. 



l6o HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1672 

lands at Compo neck among the inhabitants of the town who owned 
taxable estates. John Banks, Cornelius Hull, and Francis Bradley were 
chosen a committee to examine and make report of the quantity and 
quality of the lands at Compo. 

John Banks was chosen an attorney to defend the town, with liberty 
to employ one or more attorneys under him, at the October term of the 
Assembly, against the suit of Simon Couch. It was voted that ten pounds 
annually should be spent in stubbing and ditching the parsonage grounds. 
John Wheeler and Samuel Morehouse were "appointed husbands of this 
work." The valuation of the list of estates this year at Fairfield amounted 
to ^9,967. A penny farthing was levied upon all estates for the colony 
expenses, to be paid in one-third each of peas, Indian corn and wheat. 
The first Wednesday in November was set apart a day of general thanks- 
giving, specially for the restoration of health, peace in the colony, and 
*' for the peace as yet, through the goodness of God, enjoyed in their 
native country." 

On account of several persons having expressed dissatisfaction with 
their building dividends, it was voted January 31st, that such persons 
should return these dividends to the town, and in lieu of them they were 
granted the same proportion of lands in the rear of these dividends in the 
half mile of common, provided there should be laid out "a highway 
twenty rods broad," between the half mile of common and the Long-lots ; 
and eight score rods between them and the former building dividend. 
Sergeant John Banks, Sergeant Nathaniel Seeley, and Cornelius Hull 
were appointed a committee to lay out these lots, and also such highways 
between them as they deemed necessary.* 

It was found, however, that even this change did not satisfy all. It 
was therefore voted, after those who "slipped or jumped their lots were 
first served, & the highways had been staked out, that others upon giving 
up their present building dividends should also receive shares in the Half 
Mile of Common." John Banks, Robert Rumsey, Daniel Lockwood, Jehu 
Burr, Nathaniel Burr, Obediah Gilbert and Thomas Morehouse, were the 
first who received the benefit of this last order. 

Major Gold, John Burr and William Hill were appointed to settle the 
claims of Simon Couch and John Smith " to a lawful share in the land 
dividends, & to allow each, such a proportion of lands as they judged 
be right," with the proviso, " that they were not to receive any more 
than they were entitled to according to their rateable estates." Those 
who lived on the east end of the town were to have lots set out to them 

* B, Town Votes, p 45. 



1672] AN INTERESTING DECADE 161 

within the cast limits of the half mile common ; and those on the west 
side were to be served in the same way, allowing a twenty rod highway 
between them and the Long-lots, and a ten instead of an eight-rod high- 
way between them and the building lots dividend. Sergeant Nathaniel 
Seeley, Cornelius Hull and John Wheeler, were appointed a committee to 
lay out these lots. 

On the 15th of February, Sergeant John Banks, Henry Jackson and 
Thomas Staples were ordered " to decisively settle the bounds of the tier 
of lots over against James Bonnet's, on the other side of Uncoa creek." 
An immediate division of the Compo lands was ordered to be made, 
against which "Captain Nathan Gold protested." The townsmen, how- 
ever, remained firm in their determination to claim and divide the said 
lands, and appointed Sergeant John Banks and Francis Bradley to lay 
out and settle all the necessary highways in Compo neck. Mr. Jehu Burr 
and his brother John Burr, were appointed to settle a long controversy 
between the town and the proprietors of the home lots, lying against the 
great meadow before the town, according to a vote of the major part of 
the townsmen. On the 28th of February the committee appointed to 
examine the lands at Compo neck made a report of "about 300 acres of 
good land, & 300 of worse land." It was immediately to be divided in two 
dividends, which, were to run as follows: 

" 1=' At y'= Island, y= Lots to begin there att y^ South End, y= divisible land is 5 acres. 
2'id ye pine plane beginning- at y« beach, y^ first Lots to Run by y<= beach and So on to 
y« high way y' runs to y^ Island, and fronts upon an highway running along by y^ pound. 

3rd Tear fronting against yc Great high way y' runs from y« Sea-beach up to y° Rocks 
att ye little ponds, y« lots to run over y^ hills to y^ high way at y= hazekee meadow and 
over y^Swamp y' Runs to y= muddy Creek, and ye meer Swamp to be accounted meas- 
ure, and also upon y° high way running from y= Swamp to Compo Creek's mouth : 
y*^ Lots to begin by )<=high way by y= Sea, and So on northward till they come up to 
y* Rocks and y^ great Swamp there is, an high way runs across two rods wide from 
ye great high way to Compo Creek's mouth under y= end of y° hill. 4*'' Tear to begin at 
ye North End of a piece of upland y' lies on ye north East Side of hazeky meadow, y* lots to 
run cross y= upland, to run westerly to y^ mark'd trees, & So on over hazeky meadow, 
butting on y° rocks upon ye north west End & on ye north End, and .So to run on ye point 
of Land near Dan'll Frost building lot, y'= lots to run cross y° hill to ye marked trees of 
Each Side of y^ hill, ye lots to begin att y° upper End of y= hill next Dan" Frost building 
lott, and So on untill they come to an high way by a marsh, ye brow of ye hill of Rocks next 
y^ creek is not to be valued in measure. Ye Second Dividend being ye Rock Dividend, is 
to lye on both Sides of ye high way y' Runs from ye point of rocks to Handford path, and 
So to y^ Lots to run back from y= Said high way as y° tear hath already been Surveyed : 
y' is to be a good high way left to run from y<= great high way to Saugatuck River, & to lye 
between Mr Wakeman's farm and ye Dividends, ye Comittee is to leave necessary high 
II 



l62 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1672 

wayes for M^ Wakeman to come to his meadow. y« first Lot to begin next y= higii way 
y' Runs to Saugatuck River by M^ Wakeman's farm, and So y^ Lots to Run nortliward to 
ye end of y^ tear, y', y<= lots to Run on y^ Tear on y^ otiier side of y^ great highway, 
beginning northward of y^ Teer, and So to Run Southward to y« End of y° Teer. he that 
begins So Successively in y^ first Dividend of y^ good Land, must also So begin in y^ Sec- 
ond Dividend by y^ high way by IvI"' Wakeman's farm and So on northward as is above 
ordered."* 

A dividend of these lands was made on the 28th of Februaiy, to the 
dividend holders, and recorded on the same day. An interesting record, 
called the pounder's oath, was made at this time, which shows that the 
young fruit trees were grown in fields, and held in common by the towns- 
men. It also shows the care exercised in the healthy growth of fruit trees, 
which had been brought from England, or raised from imported inocula- 
tion, grafts, pits and seeds. 

THE pounder's OATH. 

You A. B. being Sworn pounders for y"^ Town of Fairfield for y^ year Ensuing, and 
untill new be chosen, and Sworn into your work, do Either of you for your Selves, Swear 
by y= great and dreadfull name of y® Everliving God, y* you will faithfully perform and 
Execute y= Offices you are Chosen to, without partiallity to any man, and to Spend So 
much time in y« Executing your abovesaid work as you Shall Judge necessary for y^ pre- 
servation of y= fruits of y« Cofhon fields. So help you God in our Lord Jesus Christ. 

At the May court of election, Major Gold was continued in his office 
of 'assistant of the General Assembly; Jehu Burr and John Wheeler were 
chosen deputies, and Jehu Burr and William Hill commissioners for Fair- 
field. John Banks represented, or was one of the deputies for Rye this 
year. 

John Green was appointed one of a committee to lay necessary high- 
ways at Rye. John Burr was made one of a committee to lay out a plan- 
tation north of Norwalk. The deputies were allowed ten shillings extra 
apiece, for special attendance at this session of the court, to examine the 
code of laws exhibited for publication. The governor and assistants were 
appointed to prepare a preface to the book. Deputy John Wiieeler of 
Fairfield, was granted one hundred acres of land. On the 26th of June, 
the General Assembly held an extra session at Hartford, to take into con- 
sideration a letter sent by the king of England to Governor Winthrop, 
announcing his declaration of war with the king of France against Hol- 
land, ordering the governor and council of Connecticut to send out a proc- 
lamation of war against the Dutch in America; and to capture all ships 

* Vote of Jan. 31, 1672. B, Town Votes, p. 46. 



1672] AN INTERESTING DECADE 163 

of merchandise belonging to the States General. They were also notified 
that a fleet of ships was being made ready to prey upon the commerce 
of the West Indies, and the English colonies in America; for which rea- 
son, they were advised to provide for the safety and defense of the ships 
and vessels lying in their harbors ; that all ships leaving the ports should 
sail in numbers for security, and be commanded by experienced officers. 
They were to submit to all orders and directions which they should 
receive, from time to time, from the Duke of York, who had been granted 
letters of marque and general reprisal against subjects, ships, goods, etc., 
belonging to Holland. This letter according to direction was immediately 
sent to Massachusetts.* 

The triple alliance of England, Holland and Sweden (January 13, 1668) 
had never been pleasing to the king of England. Through the influence 
of his sister, the Duchess of Orleans, he had most disgracefully entered 
into a secret treaty at Dover on the 22d of May, 1670, to make a public 
profession of the Roman Catholic religion, and to join the French king in 
a war against Holland. This declaration of war was not made, however, 
until the 17th of March, 1672. 

The English colonies in the West Indies and America were grievously 
distressed by the announcement of this unjust war, which had been antici- 
pated for some time. The General Assembly at once proceeded to place 
the militia and troopers in the towns, in readiness for active service. 
Major Geld was made commander-in-chief of the forces of Fairfield county, 
with Captain William Curtis of Stratford "his second;" and with Mr. 
Thomas Fitch of Norwalk, he was ordered to raise a sufficient body of 
troopers in Fairfield and its vicinity for the war, which should number 
forty-four. 

For months the colonies were in constant expectation of the arrival of 
a Dutch fleet, and the greatest excitement prevailed. Intelligence had 
been received of a desperate engagement on the 28th of May, between the 
Dutch fleet and the combined English and French fleet in Southwold bay, 
off the coast of Suffolk; and of the victories of the French king in Hol- 
land. This news filled them with gloomy apprehensions of an approach- 
ing war nearer home. At the meeting of the October Assembly, William 
Hill and John Banks were each granted one hundred and fifty acres of 
land for a farm. A printed copy of the laws of the colony was accepted 
by the Assembly, and an order issued that they should be published with- 
out delay ; and that every family in the colony should purchase a copy, 
to be paid for in silver or wheat to the constables. The price of a book in 

* Col. Rec. Conn., II., 559. 



l64 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1673 

silver was \2d., or a peck and a half of wheat, or in peas at three shillings 
a bushel. The estates at Fairfield this year were valued at ;^ 10,209. A 
tax of a penny farthing on the pound was levied for the expenses of the 
colony. The last Thursday in October was appointed a day of thanksgiv- 
ing for the blessings of peace, health and prosperity, and specially for a 
bountiful supply of fruit. 

In December an acre of land was voted to any honest blacksmith, who 
would settle in the town. Richard Burgis of Boston was invited to fill the 
place. In January, Richard Ogden was granted liberty to erect a new 
mill on Mill river, near the old mill site. Mill-hill was voted to remain 
a common forever. On the 30th of April, Jehu Burr, Sergeant John Banks, 
and Sergeant Nathaniel Seely, were appointed to examine the lands of 
Wyantenuck or New Milford, and to report to the town if it was a suita- 
ble place for a plantation. At the May court of election Major Gold was 
elected an assistant of the General Assembly, John Burr and John Banks 
deputies, and Jehu Burr and William Kill commissioners for Fairfield. 
Jehu Burr with Captain William Curtis of Stratford, was appointed to lay 
out to Henry Wakeley, of Fairfield, eight acres of land granted him in 1669, 
A committee was also appointed to lay out the land granted William Hill, 
John Banks, and John Wheeler. John Banks was made one of a com- 
mittee to examine the lands of Potatuck or Newtown, with a view of 
beginning a plantation there. 

The Rev. Samuel Wakeman and Jehu Burr were each granted two 
hundred acres of land.* The published Connecticut laws were brought 
into the Assembly, and after accepting the same maritime laws used by 
Massachusetts, it was ordered that the seal of the colony should be afifixed 
in the beginning of every volume. This book was printed early in the 
year, and was entitled, 

"The Book of the General Laws, for the People within the Jurisdiction of Connecticut, 
lately revised, & with some Emendations & Additions, Established & Published by the 
Authority of the General Court of Connecticut in Oct, 1672. Romans 13. i, 2. Let 
every soul be subject to the Higher Powers ; for there is no Power but of God, the Powers 
that h& are Ordained of God. Whosoever, therefore, resisteth the Power resisteth the 
Ordinance of God : & they that resist, shall receive to themselves Damnation. 

Cambridge : Printed by Samuel Green, 1673.'' 

The Preface is headed " To our Beloved Brethren & Neighbors, the 
Inhabitants of the Colony of Connecticut, The General Court of that 
Colony, with Grace & Peace from our Lord Jesus." It recognizes the 

* Col. Rec. Conn., II., 200. 



1673] AN INTERESTING DECADE 165 

necessity of establishing wholesome laws for the regulation of each body 
politic, "mainly in obedience unto Jehovah, the Great Law-giver: who 
hath been pleased to set down a Divine Platform, not only for the moral, 
but also for Judicial laws suitable for the people of Israel "..."& also 
in Conformity to the manifest pleasure of our Sovereign Lord the King in 
his Majestie's Gracious Charter . . . notwithstanding the exceeding great 
difficulty of the Work, Looking up to God for wisdom & strength to 
engage in the solemn service" . . . '"that pure religion & undefiled before 
God, according to the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, may be main- 
tained among us, which was the end of the first planters, who settled the 
Foundations, & ought to be the endeavours of those that shall succeed, 
to Uphold & Encourage unto all Generations." It concluded with the 
words of the Apostle, " i Peter 2. 13, 17. Submit yourselves to every 
Ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, &c. ; Love the Brotherhood, Fear 
God. Honor the King." 

The book is a thin folio volume of 71 pages besides the preface, with a 
table of blank leaves at the end, upon which laws enacted after its pub- 
lication were written until 1699, when the leaves were filled up. A few 
only of these books are now extant, and are great curiosities.* The last 
Wednesday of May was appointed a day of public fasting and prayer in 
all the churches. Great alarm prevailed at this time throughout the 
country. Colonel Francis Lovelace, who had succeeded Colonel Nichols 
at New York, and who had been occupied during the winter assisting 
Governor Winthrop in establishing an overland mail to Boston, reported 
to Winthrop that forty well equipped Dutch men-of-war had sailed from 
Holland for the West Indies. " It is high time," he wrote, " that we 
buckle on our arms." In the month of March, while Lovelace was on a 
visit to the manor of Thomas Pell, at Pellham, to consult with him about 
the new postal route, he was hastily summoned home, on account of an ap- 
pearance of the supposed Dutch fleet off Sandy Hook. He returned to the 
city without delay, and garrisoned the fort with recruits ; but, as the alarm 
proved false, in May he disbanded all but about eighty of the garrison. 

Desiring to confer further with Governor Winthrop in reference to the 
new postal route, he set out on the 20th of July for Hartford. Only a 
few days elapsed, when the dreaded Dutch fleet was discovered off Sandy 
Hook. Captain John Manning, who had been left in command of the 

* Trumbull's Hist, of Conn., I., 338. Col. Rec. of Conn., II., Note 15, p. 567. 

The laws of the New Haven colony were published in England in 1655. In June, 1656. five 
hundred copies were divided among the several towns of that juri.'-diction. They received the 
Connecticut laws published in 1673, ^"<i declared them to be the " Laws of the Land." 



l66 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1673 

fort, sent post haste for the governor to return ; but the warning, this 
time, came too late for the inactive Lovelace to render any effectual pre- 
paration of defense. 

On the morning of the 6th of August a sloop arrived at Fairfield, 
having onboard eleven Englishmen, who reported that they had taken the 
sloop from a Dutch fleet under the command of Admirals Evertsen and 
Binckes. Some of them were taken before Major Gold, and testified that 
the sloop had been captured by the Dutch the Saturday previous, and that, 
while at anchor on the Sabbath, they had ventured on board, and finding 
only two Englishmen in charge, " they forthwith brought her away." '■^ 

On the 8th, two men from Stamford appeared at Fairfield with four 
seamen, who had escaped from the Dutch fleet. One of them, who was 
a corporal, reported that on Monday (the 29th) the Dutch fleet appeared 
off Sandy Hook, and on Tuesday came to anchor under Staten Island. On 
Wednesday they sailed up into the Hudson river and anchored before the 
fort, but that an attack was not made for the space of half an hour, when 
the fleet discharged their broadsides into the fort, killing some and wound- 
ing others; that the fort returned fire; but as Captain Manning saw it 
was impossible to withstand such an attack, the flag of the fort was taken 
down, although eight hundred recruits were at that moment landing on 
the river's bank, in the rear of the Governor's orchard ; f that the enemy 
entered an open gate of the fort, while the besieged soldiers marched out 
of another gate with their arms and their colors flying, and laid them 
dov/n. They were then commanded to return into the fort, and committed 
to prison in the church, and afterwards sent on board the ships. He 
further stated that he saw Governor Lovelace and Justice Cornwall on 
Long Island with Captain Nichols. He reported but seven ships in the 
Dutch fleet, " three Amsterdam men & four Zealanders." The rest of 
the vessels were prizes taken in the West Indies and at Virginia. He 
thought they numbered about sixteen hundred men. The boatswain of 
one of Mr. Mullin's ships which had been captured, stated that they were 
taken on the last day of July by two pinnaces, having on board about 
forty men ; and that he was detained on board the admiral's ship twenty- 
four hours, to give an account of what was in the ship : and soon after got 
on shore above two islands in the East River, called the Twin Brothers, 
immediately south of Westchester. He further reported that the Dutch 
intended to go up to Fort Albany with a small frigate and two pinnaces — 
and about two hundred men. 

"•■ Doct. Hist. New York, ^ Vol. III., p. 200. 

\ At the present day in the rear of Trinity Church on Broadway. 



1673] AN INTERESTING DECADE 167 

Two Virginians who came in the fleet to New York, from which they 
made their escape, reported that when the EngHsh vessels guarding the 
entrance to the bay saw the Dutch fleet approaching, they supposed them 
to be English vessels coming to convey them home ; but being so unex- 
pectedly surprised several of them were captured, eight were burned, and 
the rest escaped into the creeks and by places. He said that Captain 
Samuel Davis, the captain of a sloop which had been taken at Virginia, 
was examined by one of the Dutch generals, and told that if he would 
state the truth about the condition of affairs at New York, he would give 
him his cargo again. The said sloop-master replied, that in three hours 
Governor Lovelace could raise five hundred men and one hundred and 
fifty pieces of ordnance, mounted and fit for service on the walls of the 
fort. Then said the Dutch general, " 1 will give you your sloop & cargo 
& never see them." Davis then told him that he thought there might be 
about sixty or eighty men in the fort ; and that in three or four days, they 
might raise thirty or thirty-six pieces of ordnance upon the walls, and that 
a shot or two would shake them off their carriages. *' Then all the cry 
was for New York, to which place they came." He also stated that the 
captain stood on the deck and saw about six hundred recruits land back 
of the Governor's orchard ; and that out of the six hundred there were 
not more than four hundred guns, some being armed with pistols, some 
with swords, and others with half pikes. He said that the fleet were not 
privateers, but commissioned by the States General to prey upon the 
English and French merchantmen, and that they had brought one hun- 
dred Frenchmen ofT from Surinam and burned the place. 

Another of the four reported that on the 2d of August, about one 
o'clock, he saw one of the Dutch generals go to Long Island with his 
Orange flag and trumpet to Governor Lovelace ; and that the governor 
and Captain Nichols were conducted (not through the town) but straight 
into the castle. He further stated that John Selleck, of Stamford, while 
on his way to Long Island in a small catch, was captured. 

Soon after, one Mr. Gibs, who was in Fort James during the engage- 
ment, appeared before Major Gold and reported the full particulars of the 
taking of the fort."-' Major Gold dispatched Captain John Selleck f of 
Stamford, who had made his escape from the Dutch, to Governor Win- 
throp, with a letter containing the above affidavits. He also added that 
Selleck would tell him the full particulars of the engagement at New 
York, as he had learned them from Mr. Gibs. He also notified him that 

*Doct. His'. New York, Vol. III., p. 200. 

f A rich and enterprising captain of a ship sailing to England. — Savage's Gen. Dictionary. 



l68 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1673 

the Dutch had summoned the towns on the west end of Long Island to 
surrender in two days, and those on the east end in three days ; and that 
if they did not submit, they would be reduced " by prevailing power." * 

Fort James had indeed fallen into the hands of the Dutch on the 30th 
of July. Its name was changed to that of Fort William Hendrick in 
honor of the Prince of Orange. The province was again named the New 
Netherlands ; but changed in a few days to New Orange. Anthony Colve 
was made a temporary governor, and left with two ships of war for pro- 
tection. Evertsen sailed with a part of the fleet for the West Indies, 
and Binckes with the other ships returned to Holland. The towns on 
Long Island, and in Delaware and New Jersey were immediately claimed 
and brought under the Dutch jurisdiction. 

An extraordinary session of the General Assembly was summoned at 
Hartford on the 7th of August, to take speedy measures for the safety 
and defense of the colony. A committee consisting of the governor, 
deputy-governor and several assistants, was appointed to commission 
military officers for pressing men, horses, vessels, arms, and all other neces- 
saries of defense; and to manage and dispose of the militia. Five hun- 
dred dragoons were ordered to be raised without delay, and fitted for ser- 
vice ; out of which, one hundred and twenty were to be raised in Fairfield 
county. The military of^cers in each plantation were ordered to summon 
out the militia, and fit them for active service to move in an hour's 
warning.f 

Major Gold was again made commander-in-chief of the troops and 
militia in Fairfield county, Thomas Fitch of Norwalk, captain, Jehu 
Burr, lieutenant, and Mathew Sherwood of Fairfield, ensign, for the troop- 
ers of the county. A committee was appointed to carry a letter from the 
governor and Assembly to the commander-in-chief at the Manhadoes, 
" to receive their answer & to learn what their intentions are." Neither 
Major Gold nor deputies Jehu Burr and John Banks were present at this 
Assembly. The inhabitants no doubt were almost as panic stricken as 
they were in 1653, when the formidable fleet which cast anchor in Black 
Rock channel gave them reason to anticipate a like visitation. With fair 
winds the Dutch vessels could reach Fairfield in the course of twelve 
hours. 

The Assembly met again on the nth of August. The grand com- 
mittee on war ordered the constables in each town to assist the chief com- 
manders of the train-bands to choose suitable persons to fill the ranks of 
the troopers and military companies. The sergeants and inferior officers 

*Doct. Hist. New York, Vol. III., p. 203. f Col. Rec. Conn. II., 203-206. 



1673J ^N INTERESTING DECADE 1 69 

were appointed by the county majors. The proportion of dragoons to be 
raised in the county were : " from Fairfield, thirty-eight ; Stratford, thirty- 
three; Stamford, twenty-four ; Greenwich, eight; and Norwalk, seventeen." 
Rye, being near the enemy, was excused. The following orders were also 
issued : that each dragoon should be fitted out \vith a sword and belt, a 
serviceable musket or carbine, shot-pouch, one pound of powder, three 
pounds of bullets or pistol bullets, a half pike, and a horse to expedite 
their march. Every place assaulted was given liberty to call in assistance 
from the other surrounding towns and counties, for whom they were to 
provide quarters. The clerks were to send a copy of these instructions to 
each town in their respective counties. The committee agreed to meet 
every day when the sun was about two hours high, until further orders 
were given.* 

At the sitting of the General Assembly on the 9th of October, John 
Banks was the sole representative present from Fairfield. The constables 
in each town were ordered to publish or read aloud before the townsmen, 
the newly published Book of Laws, any time before the last of December, 
and from the date of this reading they were to be in full force and virtue. 
The first Wednesday in November was appointed a public thanksgiving 
throughout the colony. The churches were also recommended to set 
apart a day of fasting and prayer in the winter season, that they might 
" earnestly implore the Lord to maintain his own cause & the interests 
of his people throughout the world in general, and particularly our own 
country." 

The governor and those of the assistants present were authorized to 
prepare a letter for Governor Colve, which John Banks, of Fairfield, was 
appointed to carry. The letter contained a remonstrance against the 
Dutch interfering with the government of the English plantations on 
Long Island, and stated that if they continued to molest his Majesty's 
towns, the English would rise, " & deal, not with the poor peasants of 
these towns, but with the Dutch head quarters." The letter closed as fol- 
lows : "Mr. John Banks is our messenger by whom we send these, who 
can further inform you how tender we are of effusion of Christian blood, 
yet cannot but resent with great indignation, if any malicious oppression 
shall be forced upon our dear neighbors, his Majestie's good subjects." 

No sooner did John Banks present this letter, than he was put under 
restraint by Governor Colve for fifteen days. Upon his return he repre- 
sented Governor Colve to be a passionate man of insolent spirit, who was 
very unpopular among the people and soldiers ; and that he was expecting 

* Col. Rec. Conn., II., 207, 208. 



I/O HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1673 

the arrival of forces from Holland, with which he threatened not only to 
subdue all the towns on Long Island, " but that he might have Hartford 
before long." 

Meanwhile the townsmen of Fairfield continued their work of attend- 
ing to the necessary improvements of the town. On the 22d of October 
it was voted, that a fence should be built on the Sound from Mill river to 
Paul's neck.' This fence was soon after erected, and inclosed the farmers' 
lands on the beach from McKenzie's point, all the way around Pine creek 
and the great meadow before the town, to the hassocks on the east of 
Paul's neck. A highway lay between this fence and the beach, shaded on 
both sides by tall beech trees.* 

Another committee was also appointed to settle the bounds of the horse 
pasture at Maxumux among its several owners. The General Assembly 
met again at Hartford on the 26th of November. Major Nathan Gold 
appeared before the council on war, and informed them that '' news 
had been received at Fairfield, by a post from Rye, that five vessels, 
supposed to be the Snow & four catches taken as prizes, had passed by 
R}'e on their way westward." At this announcement, war was imme- 
diately proclaimed against the Dutch. A messenger was sent to Massa- 
chusetts to counsel with them about assisting to carry on the war. A 
county muster-master was appointed to examine the common stock of 
ammunition in the towns, as well as the arms and military equipments 
of the militia once a year. He was also to give notice to the commander- 
in-chief of their condition, and at his convenience to assemble the troopers 
and footmen before him, for an inspection of their arms, etc. For his ser- 
vices he was to be paid six shillings eight pence per day. If any one was 
found unable to supply himself with arms, the town in which he lived was 
to furnish him until he was able to repay the obligation. Lieutenant 
Richard Olmstead was appointed muster-master for Fairfield county. 
Major John Talcott was appointed commander-in-chief of the military 
forces to be sent against New York, Major Robert Treat of Milford, 
second commander, and Captain William Curtis of Stratford, captain of 
the Fairfield county forces. Mr. Thomas Trowbridge of New Haven 
was made commissary of the expedition. The public rate was raised to 
two pence half-penny on the pound, on all ratable estates in the colony, 
to assist in defraying the expenses of the war. The towns on Long Island 
had already been furnished with men and arms for their protection, the 
Dutch governor having threatened them " with destruction by fire & 

* Testimony of Captain Ephraim Burr, of Fairfield, 1882. A considerable extent of this high- 
way still exists. 



1674] '^N INTERESTING DECADE I7I 

sword," unless they would submit and swear allegiance to the States Gen- 
eral. Several attempts were made by the Dutch to reduce them, but they 
were driven off with the assistance of the Connecticut reinforcements. 
Winter set in with serious apprehensions on the part of both the English 
and Dutch of early hostilities in the spring. 

The townsmen of Fairfield met on the 3d of February, and voted that 
a highway two rods wide should be laid out at Grccnlea, between the Fair- 
field and Stratford bounds, to run from below the widow Wheeler's house 
next to the sea. On the 25th of February, Thomas Staples and Josiah 
Harvey were appointed to measure and build fences in the middle field. 
The vigilance exercised at Fairfield, and the excitement consequent upon 
preparing an army to march against the Dutch, with constant alarms of an 
invasion by sea and by land, made the winter one of the most trying that 
the inhabitants had ever experienced. They had in reality far more to 
dread from a general rise among the Indians than from a Dutch invasion. 
The greatest possible activity had been exercised in equipping a body of 
efficient troopers and footmen. The whole army in the colony amounted 
to more than two thousand men, one quarter of which were well mounted 
dragoons. With the opening of sprmg, however, their anxieties and fears 
were relieved by the glad news, that on the 9th of February peace had 
been once more established between England and Holland. By this treaty 
all things were restored as they were before the war.* 

At the assembling of the May court of election, notice of the peace 
between England and Holland was formally announced. Samuel Martin 
and Jonathan Sellick were sent as messengers to New York with a copy 
of the king's proclamation and the articles of peace. 

Governor Winthrop was re-elected and William Leet made deputy- 
governor. Major Gold was elected an assistant of the General Assembly 
at the May election; Jehu and John Burr, deputies, and William Hill and 
Mr. Burr commissioners for Fairfield. Sergeant Nathaniel Seely was 
appointed in the place of William Hill to lay out the disputed bounds 
of Norwalk. A person, called a hayward, was ordered to be appointed 
in each town, to guard the hedges and fences; to protect horses, cattle and 
sheep, and to impound stray cattle. An officer was also appointed in each 
town to examine merchantable corn, grain, and pork sold by the pound. 
The clerks of the train-bands were freed from watching and warding. The 

* The treaty was brought about by the commons, who on the yih of February, 1674, maintained 
that any standing force, other than the militia " was grievous to the nation ; " in consequence of 
which the king conchided a separate treaty with the Dutch (Feb. 4, 1674), but still kept up his 
connection with the king of France. — Hume. 



172 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1674 

Rev. Eliphalet Jones was requested "to take the paynes to dispence the 
word of God to the people of Rye, once a fortnight on the Lord's Day 
until October." The last Wednesday in June was appointed a day of public 
thanksgiving. In October Daniel Burr was made one of a committee to 
audit the accounts of the treasurer of the colony. For his efficient services 
during the past year, Major Gold was granted a remittance of his taxes to 
the colony. The next general training days were appointed first at New 
Haven, second at New London, and third at Fairfield. It was also 
ordered that each county train-band should be considered the oldest com- 
pany, and lead in their regiments, unless the major had a particular corn- 
pan}^, in which case his company was given the privilege of leading at all 
general musters. 

From the beginning of the settlement of Connecticut, great attention 
had been paid to the establishment of schools in every town in the colony. 
The General Court granted Fairfield at this time, two hundred acres of land 
for a grammar school, " to be improved in the best way, for the benefit 
of such a school & to no other use or end whatever."* This order was 
carried out by the townsmen in the divisions of lands from time to 
time. The effort made in 1670 to pay the Rev. Samuel Wakeman's salary 
by a voluntary contribution, proved an unpleasant matter to him. Min- 
isters ruled in those days, and their maintenance was a matter of honest 
debt to them, and not a deed of generosity on the part of the people. The 
orthodox way of regularly taxing the whole town, no matter how much 
any one inhabitant might differ from the established church of the colony, 
was the lawful mode of paying this debt, which Mr. Wakeman resolved 
should be carried out. He had no idea of permitting the king's Act OF 
Uniformity, or the Test Act passed in 1673 f to creep in by allowing his 
salary to be raised by voluntary contribution. 

It was already known that Sir Edmond Andross had been appointed 
governor of New York, and " all the territories lying west of the Conecti- 
cut River." From the beginning of the settlement of New England, up 
to the time of which we are writing, never had the advent of Episcopacy 
into the country been so much dreaded by the New England people. 
Andross was a member of the Church of England, and his coming to 

*Col. Rec. Conn., II., 176. 

f The Test Act was passed by Parliament to prevent political power being placed in the hands 
of Papists or Dissenters. It provided that no person should be admitted to the Kings' or Duke of 
York's households, either in civil or military affairs, without receiving the Lord's Supper, according 
to the usages of the Church of England. And although it affected Dissenters as well as Papists, 
the Dissenters favored its passage, as it explicitly denied the doctrine of transubstantiation — 
Hume. 



i674] AN INTERESTING DECADE I73 

America was regarded as an occasion of great danger to the prosperity of 
Congregationalism, as v ell as to that of the civil government. 

Whether an effort was made at Fairfield at this time to take advan- 
tage of the king's Act of Uniformity and the Test Act by some of the 
inhabitants of the town, cannot be ascertained ; but either this idea, or an 
effort to induce Mr. Wakeman to divide his salary with an assistant minis- 
ter, was the cause of the trouble which had existed ; in consequence of 
which he appealed to the General Court for redress at the October session 
of 1674. Upon hearing his grievance, the court appointed Captain John 
Allyn of Hartford, James Bishop of New Haven, and Major Robert Treat 
of Milford, to act with Major Gold, "to improve their best endeavors to 
settle an accommodation between the people & minister of Fairfield, that 
soe, if it be the will of God, Mr. Wakeman may continue in his work 
there."* From this time it does not appear that any further trouble 
existed on this subject. 

Mr. Wakeman proved himself fully capable of conducting the affairs of 
his people alone. He not only became a popular minister, but also one of 
the most active men in Connecticut, in all the leading measures taken to 
settle the ecclesiastical affairs of the colony. 

Two distinct religious parties had existed in New England from the 
settlement of the Massachusetts Bay colony, the Separatists and the Puri- 
tans. The Separatists or Independents adhered to the congregational mode 
of worship, while the Puritans were Presbyterians, and non-conformists 
of the Church of England. The Separatists or Congregationalists held to 
the belief, that each church was independent in its government from all 
other churclies, or that each separate church was a distinct body in itself. 
The Presbyterian elem.ent among the Puritans, believed in a union of 
churches, and a fixed method of church government which should control 
them as a united body. The Church of England non-conformists ciung to 
their early church education and beliefs, hoping that the day was near at 
hand when they should again enjoy its ritual, and that all which had been 
offensive to them in the mother-church, would be done away with. Hence, 
there ever continued in the New England colonies a strong opposition 
among the Puritans against the congregational mode of worship. Many 
were strongly opposed to church and state, or to anyone churcli becoming 
an established church of the colonies, and uniting with the civil govern- 
ment in controlling the consciences of individuals. 

John Banks, with William Curtis of Stratford, was appointed to lay out 
two hundred acres of land to the Rev. Thomas Handford of Norwalk. 

* Col. Rec. Conn., TI., 240. 



174 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1675 

The colony tax was ordered to be paid in wheat at 4s., peas at $s., and corn 
at 6d. per bushel, or pork at 3J'. a barrel, when corn could not be had. 
Estates seized to pay county rates, were ordered to be sold at an outcry. 
John Banks was appointed one of a committee to run a boundary line 
between Connecticut and New York, from the Mamaroneck to the Hudson 
river. 

Stringent laws were passed for a more effectual and speedy way to 
carry the overland mail from New York to Boston. Hartford had been 
made the central point for perfecting this project ; and from the 1st of 
January, 1673, a postman was dispatched on the first Monday of each 
month from New York to Boston, with letters and small packages free of 
postage. In order to prevent postmen from loitering at taverns, stated 
allowances were made for them and their horses from Rye to Springfield, 
by the Assembly.* 

The same rates were used between the towns. From the middle of 
October to the last of April, the postman was granted eight pence extra, 
for every night spent on the way for oats for his horse. The inn-keepers 
were ordered to take great pains, that the horses were not deprived of their 
allowance. They were to charge at the rate of six pence a meal for the 
postman, four pence for grass for a horse, and the same for oats or hay for 
one night. A fine was imposed upon any one who detained the postman 
without good cause. Mr. John Burr, as the constable of Fairfield, was ap- 
pointed to receive the amount due Mr. Green for the printed Colony laws. 
The last Wednesday in October was appointed a general thanksgiving 
day, to praise God for his mercy to the English nation, in so signally free- 
ing the colony from the imminent danger of war which menaced it ; for 
the peace of the churches, of which others more deserving were deprived ; 
for general health of the plantations, and for an abundant harvest. Thomas 
Morehouse agreed to keep a gate over the creek, near Concord field. 

At the May election, Major Gold was made an assistant of the General 

* Postman's Hire. Horse Hire. 

.f. d. s. 

Rye to Hartford 20 12 

Greenwich " " 17 10 

Stamford "' " 17 10 

Norwalk " " 15 9 

Fairfield " " 13 8 

Stratford " " 12 7 

Milford " " 10 6 

New Haven " " 8 6 5 

Wallingford " " 6 4 



i675] AN INTERESTING DECADE 175 

Court, Jehu Burr and John Banks deputies, and Jehu Burr and WiUiam 
Hill commissioners for Fairfield. Scarcely had tranquillity been restored 
in the colony, when a still greater evil threatened the country. In order 
to establish his claims in America, on the 29th of June, 1674, the Duke of 
York took out a new patent from the king confirming his grant of 1664, 
which embraced "all the lands from the west side of the Connecticut 
River, to the cast side of Delaware Bay." Two days later he appointed 
Sir Edmund Andross governor of New York, and of all his territories 
lying west of the Connecticut river. The receipt of this intelligence pro- 
duced great indignation in Connecticut and throughout New England. 
To resist this injustice, after the fair promises made by the king, and by 
his commissioners ten years before, became at once the leading sentiment 
of the ministers and public men of the colony. 

Andros arrived in New York four months after his appointment. On 
the first of May following he addressed a letter to the governor and 
Assembly of Connecticut, demanding a surrender of all the territory west 
of the Connecticut, and submission to his authority as the lieutenant- 
governor in America of the Duke of York's possessions. To this letter 
Governor Winthrop and the Assembly replied, refusing to acknowledge 
any charter or government, but that which the king had so graciously 
granted his liege subjects in the colony of Connecticut. In their great 
distress, the first Wednesday in June was appointed to be observed as a 
day of fasting and prayer, to seek the Lord that he would "stay his 
hands ; give them a heart to repent of the sins they had committed, & to 
return unto Him, that so in judgment He might remember mercy." 

Vigorous measures were taken to make a strong resistance at Fairfield. 
At a town meeting held on the 15th of May, Richard Hubbell was author- 
ized to furnish eight hundred weight of lead within three months, for the 
use of the magazine in the town. 

John Banks was made one of a committee to settle the boundaries 
of Derby, Woodbury, Waterbury, Newtown and New Milford. 

The law requiring a freeman to be possessed of twenty pounds real 
estate was changed, so that the requirement became ten pounds. 

Another grievous trouble fell upon the colony at this time. It was 
known that the Indians had plotted for many years to exterminate the 
whites. They had sold them their lands, and by treaties acknowledged 
themselves subjects of the king of England ; but they regarded themselves 
the original proprietors of the countr}-, and had long looked with a jeal- 
ous eye upon the English. They had been moved from one reservation 
to another, the white man's home covering the hunting grounds and lands 



176 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1675 

where their wigwams had stood. The jealousy of a savage heart dreamed 
of no other way of reHef than to exterminate a people, whom they both 
hated and feared. Their sachems, once free to conduct their own wars, 
to govern their subjects, and to be independent of any rule, chafed under 
the restraints placed upon them. The jealousy which they had nursed 
for years, at last over-leaped every barrier, and the colonies in New Eng- 
land were suddenly plunged into a most cruel and disastrous war. The 
plot to exterminate the English, was revealed by a Christian Indian 
named John Sausaman. He was once a subject of Philip, sachem of the 
Wampanoags. In his rage Philip caused Sausaman to be murdered. 
Not long after, the murderer was tried and executed under the colonial 
laws. Enraged, guilty, and fearing for his own personal safety, Philip 
summoned his warriors together, and passed through the country in a 
hostile manner, calling upon other tribes to join him in exterminating the 
whites. 

About the last of June, Governor Winthrop was notified from New 
London and Stonington that the Indians had murdered several whites in 
the Plymouth colony. Fearing an attack, they begged that an armed force 
might be sent without delay, to protect the towns lying on the east 
borders of the Connecticut colony. On the 1st of July Winthrop dis- 
patched a messenger to New York, asking Governor Andros to join in 
defending the English settlements. The messenger passed through Fair- 
field, and with all possible speed reached New York at three o'clock in 
the morning of the 4th. 

On the 7th Governor Winthrop received a reply from Governor 
Andros, informing him that he should hasten his coming to Connecticut, 
and should set out that evening with an armed force, to assist him in 
settling all difficulties within the bounds of his royal highness. Without 
delay Captain Bull was dispatched from Hartford to Saybrook, with 
instructions to defend the towns on the seaboard against the Indians, as 
well " as to ward off all aggressions from any quarter." Meanwhile Win- 
throp summoned a meeting of the Assembly on the 9th at Hartford. On 
the morning of the 8th, Governor Andros arrived off Saybrook with an 
armed force. Wholly ignorant of his design, the inhabitants of the town 
were at first doubtful whether they should resist or allow him to land. 
They soon, however, recovered from the shock of his unexpected appear- 
ance. The fort was manned and the militia assembled for the defense of 
the town. Captain Bull arrived at this critical moment, and gave courage 
and spirit to the inhabitants to make the most vigorous resistance. Dur- 
ing the day Captain Nichols with two other gentlemen was sent on shore 



,675 J AN INTERESTING DECADE 1 77 

to offer reinforcements to aid in protecting the town from the Indians, 
Meanwhile Robert Chapman, captain of the militia, dispatched a messen- 
ger to Winthrop for instructions. A speedy answer was returned by the 
governor and council to Captains Bull and Chapman, that in case Governor 
Andros should attempt to land with his friends to visit the fort, he should 
be treated with courtesy. " But they were to forbid his attempting to 
land his forces under arms." They were also instructed to raise the 
English flag over the fort, and to avoid striking the first blow ; but if 
attacked to resist in his Majesty's name, and to defend themselves as best 
they could, for their own interests and the peace of the colony. They 
were further instructed " to represent to Major Andros the great injury 
& wrong he was doing, to take advantage of this time to make trouble 
among the king's subjects." "' 

The Assembly inet openly, on the morning of the 9th. Major Gold, 
deputies Jehu Burr and John Banks were present. A letter which had 
been drawn up and read before the Assembly was immediately dispatched 
to Major Andros, protesting against his landing an armed force in any 
of the towns in the jurisdiction, and threatening to inform the king of his 
ungracious conduct, " not fearing but that he would grant them his favor 
$: protection." They further proceeded to draw up a declaration against 
the intrusion of Andros ; and to command all the good people in the 
colony utterly to refuse to attend, countenance or obey him or his ofificers, 
in the following words : 

"Forasmuch as the good people of his majesty's colony of Connecticut, have met 
with much trouble & molestation from Major Edmund Andros, his challenge & attempts 
to surprise the main part of said colony, which they have so rightfully obtained, so long 
possessed, & defended against all invasions of Dutch & Indians, to the great grievance of 
his majesty's good subjects in their settlements, & to despoil the happy government, by 
charter from iiis majesty granted to themselves, & under which they have enjoyed many 
halcyon days of peace & tranquillity, to their great satisfaction, & to the content of his 
majesty, graciously expressed by letters to them, so greatly engaging their loyalty & thank- 
fulness, as makes it intolerable to be put off from so long & just settlement under his 
majesty's government by charter. Hereupon for the prevention of misrepresentations 
into England, by the said Major Andros against us, for our refusal, & withstanding his 
attempts, made with hostile appearances to surprise us at Saybrook, while we were 
approaching towards a savage Indian enemy, that had committed much outrage & murder, 
by fire & sword, upon our neighbours about Plymouth ; this court have desired honorable 
John Winthrop & James Richards, Esquires, or either of them, (intending a voyage to Eng- 
land upon their own occasions,) to take with them the narrative & copies of all the transac- 
tions betwixt us, & to give a right understanding for clearing our innocence, & better 
securing our enjoyment as occasion shall offer." 

■''Col. Rec. Conn., II., 334. 



178 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1675 

It was voted that the above declaration should be forthwith sent to the 
several plantations, sealed with the seal of the colony, and signed by the 
secretary. This protest was also dispatched to Captain Bull, with instruc- 
tions to counsel with Major Andros, and to invite him to meet the Com- 
missioners of the united colonies, wherever he should choose within the 
jurisdiction. 

The x'\ssembly also ordered that " forces should be sent from the sea- 
side, by the governor & assistants of Fairfield & the neighboring towns." 

On the morning of the 12th, Major Andros requested an interview on 
shore with the ministers and principal officers of Saybrook. He was 
permitted to land with his officers, about the time that the messenger 
arrived with the letter and protest from the Assembly. Captain Bull, with 
the ofifiicers of the fort and town, and the principal gentlemen of Saybrook, 
rnet him upon his landing, and informed him that they had but that 
instant received instructions to acquaint him that the Assembly proposed 
he should meet the commissioners, and determine the controversy accord- 
ing to law and justice. Andros accepted the proposition ; but, forthwith 
proceeded to order that the Duke's patent and his commission as lieuten- 
ant-governor should be read. Captain Bull commanded him to desist from 
any such reading. Andros ordered his clerk to read as he had directed. 
The moment his clerk attempted to read, Bull, with great energy of man- 
ner and firmness of voice, ordered him to cease. Struck with his courage 
and soldier-like bearing, Andros asked his name. " My name is Bull 
Sir," he replied. " Bull," said the major, " It is a pity your horns are not 
tipped with silver ! " Finding that the brave Bull and the Assembly were 
determined to resist his authority, and to maintain their chartered rights, 
Andros, after expressing his displeasure at the rudeness shown to him 
and his office, and the ingratitude exhibited to his proffered assistance 
against the Indians, returned to his vessel, and sailed for Long Island.''- 

Meanwhile, on the 5th of July, intelligence spread through the colony 
that the people of Swanzey and Taunton had suffered greatly from the 
murders and depredations of Philip's warriors ; and that Massachusetts 
had sent four hundred men to their relief. This was followed on the loth 
by news from Massachusetts, that at least thirty Englishmen had been 
murdered at Taunton. f Through the Rev. James Fitch, of Norwich, 
Uncas reported that the Narragansetts had received under their care the 
women and children of Philip, while he and his men were murdering men, 
women and children, and plundering the settlements in Plymouth, and 
Massachusetts. Uncas proffered his friendship and assistance to the Eng- 

■*xCol..Rec. Conn., II., 583. f Trumbull's Hist. Conn., I., 344, 346. 



i675] ' AN INTERESTING DECADE 1 79 

lish, in consideration of which Mr. Fitch recommended the Assembly that 
his faithfulness should be amply rewarded. Fearing the hostile Indians 
might attack the towns in the eastern part of the colony, Captain Wait 
Winthrop was sent with a company of Connecticut dragoons to join Cap- 
tain Hutchinson, into the Narragansctt country. A treaty was effected 
between the Narragansctt sachems and their "sunk squaw," or old queen, 
on the 15th of July. Forty coats were offered by the commissioners to 
any Indian who would bring in Philip alive, and twenty for his head. Two 
coats were pledged for every subject of Philip's brought in alive, and one 
for each head. All stolen goods were to be returned. Neither Philip nor 
any of his subjects were to be harbored by the Narragansetts ; and if they 
fell into their hands, they promised to kill or destroy them, until peace 
should be declared between Philip and the united colonies. Perpetual 
peace was to be maintained between the Narragansetts and the English, 
in order to cement this treaty, hostages were exacted of the Narragansetts. 

On the 1 8th of July, the Massachusetts and Plymouth forces attacked 
Philip and his warriors in a swamp at Pocasset. The Indians sought 
refuge in a forest, and the English, following them closely, were drawn 
into such a dense thicket that it was difficult, as night approached, to dis- 
tinguish their comrades from the enemy. Every moving bush received a 
volley of shot. Philip's men were reduced to great distress, and were 
upon the point of surrender, but fearing their fate, made a bold escape. 
Sixteen brave Englishmen were killed. Philip collected fresh men, and 
retired into a swampy neck of land, from which he could not have 
retreated without fighting his way through the English army. There is 
no doubt, if he had been followed up in this situation, he might have been 
conquered and peace been established; but, unfortunately, a few compa- 
nies were left to guard the swamp, and subdue the savages by starvation. 
About six or eight days after, either by wading across an arm of the sea, 
or passing over on rafts, he and his army escaped from the swamp. 
Emboldened by this escape, he enlisted all the Indians " for an extent of 
nearly three hundred miles," to rise and assist him in his savage work. 

Acquainted with the customs of the English, their dwellings, roads, 
times of meeting at church, and the annual elections, the Indians were on 
the alert upon every unguarded moment to massacre the whites, and to 
burn and plunder their dwellings. They skulked in the uncleared forests 
which surrounded them, or concealed themselves in the darkness of night 
in the barns and out-houses of the planters, whom they murdered at their 
doors when opened in the morning. If attacked in one quarter, they fell 
upon another, and carried on their inhuman barbarities, after which they 



l8o HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1675 

retired into the forests, where it was difficult to pursue or attack them. 
The frontier towns of Plymouth, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island, suffered 
greatly from these attacks. Whole families were murdered, and villages 
destroyed by fire. The village of Brookfield was burned on the 2d of 
August. In September, Hadley, Deerfield, and Northfield, on the Con- 
necticut river, were attacked. Many of the inhabitants were killed, and 
valuable property burned or destroyed. On the 12th of September, Cap- 
tain Beers was surprised near Northfield, and twenty of his men killed. 
On the i8th. Captain Lothrop, with a choice body of young men from 
Essex county, was attacked near Deerfield, and, being overwhelmed, were 
nearly all cut off. Captain Mosely, who was stationed at Deerfield, with 
about sixty men, marched to his assistance, but was too late to relieve 
him. In the mean time he was obliged to defend himself against a large 
body of Indians for three hours. At last he and his men retreated, fight- 
ing nine miles for their lives as they retired. He held his situation until 
reinforced by Major Treat with about one hundred men from Connecti- 
cut (seventy of whom were from Fairfield county) and sixty Mohegans, 
The enemy were soon put to flight ; but the loss of the English, particu- 
larly in Essex county, was regarded a universal affliction. Jehu Burr and 
William Hill met with the commissioners of the united colonies, about the 
middle of September. A standing army of one thousand men was ordered 
to be raised for the defense of the colonies, of which five hundred were to 
be dragoons. The quota for Connecticut was three hundred and fifty 
men, who were to be commanded by Major Treat, of Stratford. Scarcely 
had this army been equipped, when it was called to make a rapid march 
to defend Springfield, which had been attacked with considerable loss. 
On the loth. Major Andros notified the council at Hartford that an 
Indian had discovered to him an extraordinary combination among the 
Indians, extending from Hartford to Greenwich, to attack all the English 
settlements on the approaching moonlight nights. The work of destruc- 
tion was to begin at Hartford. He reported that from five to six thou- 
sand Indians were engaged in the conspiracy. He somewhat doubted the 
story, but thought the whole colony should be prepared for any emer- 
gency. 

The day following, the council ordered that Hartford, being the head- 
quarters of the council, should be further protected from surprise or inva- 
sion, by " Flankers being placed in or near the outside houses of the town, 
at such convenient distances that they could be commanded from flanker 
to flanker around the entire town." A committee was appointed to carry 
on the work, and attend each flanker in case of alarm. The constables 



iC75] AN INTERESTliNG DECADE l8l 

were ordered to see that the watchmen kept a vigilant eye on the Indians 
in the vicinity, and exact from them assurances of fidehty. 

The General Assembly met on the 14th of October. Upon the Rev. 
Mr. Fitch giving information that the Indians were plotting to attack 
Norwich, Major Treat was ordered to send forty men post haste, under 
some suitable commander, to assist the militia in the defense of that town. 
The planters of Derby and all the other small settlements, were advised to 
remove their wives and children to some one of the larger towns for safety. 

Major Robert Treat appeared before the Assembly, and tendered his 
resignation as commander-in-chief of the army. A vote of thanks was 
passed for his late good services, and the Assembly " desired him to con- 
tinue in the office with his regiment over the forces of the colony." 

Sixt)' troopers were ordered to be raised out of each county. Those 
raised in Fairfield county, were to be commanded by Captain William Cur- 
tis, of Stratford. Major Gold was requested to appoint his son-in-law, 
Josiah Harvey, of Fairfield, or Dr. John Hall, of Stratford, as surgeon for 
the army, and Israel Chauncey of the same place as chaplain.* Ger- 
shom Bulkely of Wethersfield, also received the appointment of surgeon. 
Robert Seely of Stratford, and Nathaniel Seely of Fairfield, were made 
lieutenants. 

Each town in the colony was ordered to appoint a committee to raise 
some suitable place of defense into which the women and children, the 
aged and the helpless might repair without delay, in case of alarm or an 
attack by the Indians, and into which they might also send their grain, 
valuables and movable property. The majors in each county were to 
appoint an ofificer to command the fortifications, and also one to take 
charge of the militia. 

Any neglect of duty by an ofificer was punishable with death. Inferior 
punishments were to be decided by commissioned officers in each town ; 
but cases of life or limb were to be tried before a court martial, which 
was to consist of the governor, deputy-governor and the majors of the 
several regiments. 

Jehu Burr and John Banks were nominated and appointed with the 
deputy-governor, the assistants, and four other gentlemen, as a standing 
council, to order the military affairs of the colony. John Banks was also 
appointed one of a committee to audit the treasurer's account. In conse- 
quence of the danger to which many planters were exposed from the 
hostile Indians, while planting their fields, and the destruction of a large 
amount of grain by the enemy in the frontier towns, the Assembly ordered 

*Col. Rec. Conn., II., 26S. 



l83 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1675 

that " no corn, grain, meal, flour or bread should be sent out of the colony, 
without a special license from the Council, under a penalty of forfeiting 
three fourths of such shipments to the colony, & one fourth to the 
informer." A fine or twelve months' imprisonment without bail, was laid 
upon any one guilty of selling arms or ammunition to the Indians, with a 
severe whipping upon entering the prison, and once a quarter during the 
twelve months. 

Great caution was recommended in treating with the friendly Indians. 
The magistrates and commissioners were given power to treat with them 
in or near the several towns in an amicable manner, and to avoid any 
appearance of intolerance. In order to distinguish them from the 
unfriendly Indians, stated times for admitting them into the plantations 
were suggested. 

A strong effort was made to prevent the use of intoxicating liquors 
among the Indians, as also to oblige them to keep the Sabbath. Cate- 
chisms were published in the Indian language and circulated among them. 
These efforts, however, proved of but little avail. The wars which were 
perpetually kept up among them, their ignorance of reading, writing or 
spelling in the English language, as well as the ignorance of the ministers 
of the Indian dialects, were serious obstacles in the accomplishment of 
this desirable undertaking. A few Indians here and there became Chris- 
tians, and were baptized and admitted to the communion. 

In order to retain a sufficient force for the protection of each town, a 
law was passed that any male " above fourteen years of age or under the 
age of seventy," being led by inordinate fear to distrust God's provi- 
dence to remove out of the colony, without a license from the council or 
military ofificer, should be fined one hundred pounds, or in default of such 
a sum, be corporally punished according to the discretion of the court. A 
tax of six pence upon the pound was levied to defray the expenses of the 
colony, to be paid in wheat, peas, Indian corn, beef and pork, in propor- 
tion of " one half in flesh." Those who could pay in money, were required 
to pay their full tax in specie. 

The council sent a letter of thanks to Major Andros for his timely 
warning of the combination among the Indians. They wrote that although 
they had all summer been alarmed, greatly distressed, and charged by 
hostile appearances from almost every port in the colony, " wherein God 
had made them to be as a bush burning, yet not consumed in the midst 
of these flames," yet notwithstanding, they thankfully accepted his 
friendly lines of intelligence posted so seasonably. Such Christian help- 
fulness, they suggested, should be encouraged ; and they should feel them- 



i675] AN INTERESTING DECADE 183 

selves bound to reciprocate his good will, in sending aid to him should it 
be required ; feeling themselves " to be naturally obliged in loyalty to their 
King, to be as neighborly serviceable on these accounts against barbarous 
natives as any of his majesties subjects, however distinct they might be 
upon their just patent right." 

Major Andros immediately replied, that although his first efforts to 
assist them were slighted and rejected, he should, nevertheless, not be 
Vv-anting in duty to his countrymen ; and if the council would send a fit 
person, he should be ready to serve them in every way in his power. On 
the 19th Hatf.eld was attacked. The same day the dragoons from Fair- 
field county reached Hartford, and were immediately sent forward to 
reinforce Major Treat at his headquarters at Northampton. His army 
now numbered about three hundred English, with whom he marched 
without delay to the defense of Hadley. The Indians numbered several 
hundred. A severe battle was fought, in which the Indians were defeated 
and pursued to the banks of the Connecticut, into which many of them 
plunged, hoping to reach the opposite shore. Several were drowned, and 
their arms and ammunition were lost. So many of their number were 
killed in the fight, that they were greatly discouraged. Most of them 
made their way to the Narragansett country, but enough remained to 
annoy and distress the planters from time to time. 

It now became apparent that the Narragansetts had broken their 
league with the English, and it was believed that some of their young men, 
who returned wounded, had been engaged in the war with Philip's men. 
It was known that they could muster about two thousand warriors, which, 
joined with the other hostile Indians, who were armed with at least a 
thousand muskets, formed an army more formidable than the English 
could collect to protect the towns from general devastation. 

The commissioners of the united colonies met at Boston on the 2d of 
November, and declared war against the Narragansetts. They resolved to 
raise a standing army of one thousand men for a winter campaign, to attack 
the enemy in their own country. Massachusetts was to furnish five hund- 
red and seventy-two men, consisting of six companies of foot and a troop 
of horse, under the command of Major Appleton ; Plymouth two com- 
panies of one hundred and fifty-eight men, commanded by Major Bradford 
and Captain Goram ; Connecticut three hundred and fifteen men, under 
the command of Major Robert Treat. But Connecticut raised five com- 
panies, consisting of three hundred Englishmen and one hundred and fifty 
Mohcgans and Pequots. Major Josiah Winslow was made commander-in- 
chief of the united forces, and Major Robert Treat second in command. 



1 84 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1675 

Upon his forming a junction with the Massachusetts and Plymouth forces, 
Captain Benjamin Newbcry was appointed the eldest captain, to succeed 
Major Treat, in case anything should prevent his fulfilling his appoint- 
ment ; Captain John Mason, third in command ; Captain Watts (or Wait), 
fourth ; Captain Avery, fifth ; Lieutenant Nathaniel Seely, of Fairfield,., 
sixth ; and Lieutenant John Miles, seventh. The Connecticut soldiers 
were to rendezvous at Norwich, Stonington, and New London ; those of 
Massachusetts at Rehoboleth, Providence, and Warwick, by the lOth of 
December. 

The 2d of December was appointed a day of fasting and prayer through- 
out all New England, for the success of the enterprise, " in repelling the 
rage & insolence of the enemie." Major Treat was ordered by the 
council to continue at Northampton until he received further orders, and 
not to march to Meadham without Captain Appleton marched with him 
with his full three hundred men. If the enemy assaulted any of the 
plantations, he v/as to post to their relief with his whole strength. 

Major Gold was instructed that the soldiers who had returned to Fair- 
field count}', from the late expedition under the command of Captain 
Robert Seely, of Stratford, be forthwith prepared with accommodations 
of clothing, arms, and horse, and made ready to march in an hour's warn- 
ing ; and to furnish ten hatchets for ten of the soldiers, " to be worn by 
their sides instead of swords." Major Gold's name was added to the 
council at this time. Three hundred bushels of wheat was ordered to 
supply the army, out of which Fairfield county was to send one hundred 
bushels to New London. Major Gold, John Green, and Joseph Hawley 
were appointed quarter-masters to collect wheat, and send it to New Lon- 
don before the first of December, and they were also to impress men, corn, 
or vessels for the expedition, if occasion required. The greatest excite- 
ment prevailed at Fairfield this time. Dragoons and footmen, with their 
officers from all parts of the country, daily arrived, and were quartered in 
the town, and exercised on the Meeting-house green. Horses, carts, and 
wagons were constantly arriving with provisions, to be shipped from Black 
Rock for the army. The women of the town were busily employed in 
fitting out their husbands and sons for the expedition. Every commis- 
sioned officer was granted a horse for his use, and every three soldiers the 
use of one horse. 

Upon receiving information that Mr. Jeremiah Ball's house in the Nar- 
ragansett country had been attacked by the Indians, and eighteen men, 
women, and children slain, the war council, on the 29th, ordered Major 
Treat to move with all possible haste, by land or by water, to the relief of 



1 



i675] AN INTERESTING DECADE 1 85 

Major John Winthrop, who was in command of the mihtia of New London 
county, and to make an immediate attack upon the Narragansetts. He 
was also instructed to engage the Pequots and Mohegans to join in the 
expedition. The chaplains of the army, Gershom and Buckley and Nicho- 
las Noyse, v/ere recommended to his special care. The captains and lieu- 
tenants were commended to be tender and careful of Major Treat, and to 
guard his person at all times with a strong guard ; " to avoid all that 
might be provoking to God, & that they behave themselves valiantly & 
courageously." 

On the 1 2th of December, the counties of Hartford, New Haven, and 
Fairfield were ordered to send a detachment of twenty-six men, to join a 
detachment at Saybrook, to assist the garrison of Norwich, in the protec- 
tion of that town. On the 17th, by a letter of advice from Major Gold 
and the assistants of New Haven, the war council appointed a convention 
of ministers from the counties of Fairfield and New Haven, to meet the 
Rev. Messrs. Woodbridge and Buckingham the next week at New Haven, 
and " in the fear of God, to make dilligent search for those evils amongst 
us, which have stirred up the Lord's anger against us, that they being 
discovered, may, by repentance and reformation, be thrown out of our 
camp & hearts." The Rev. Samuel Wakeman of Fairfield, and the Rev. 
Joseph Elliot of New London, were appointed to make a report of their 
proceedings to the council the following week." 

Major Treat with the Connecticut troops arrived at Pettyquamscot, 
on the 17th of December, and on the following day formed a junction 
with the Massachusetts and Plymouth forces. A hard snow storm came 
on, and before morning the ground was covered over between two and 
three feet in depth. The cold was so intense that some of the men had 
iheir hands and feet frozen, and were disabled for service. As day dawned 
the march was resumed towards the enemy's quarters. The Indians had 
retired into a swamp, in the centre of which they had erected a fort on a 
rise of ground of about three or four acres, and surrounded it with pali- 
sades protected with felled trees, a rod wide on the outside. The interior 
was lined with a clay wall, with the exception of a small space in the rear, 
which they had not quite completed when the English army came upon 
them. The entrance to the fort was covered by a large log or tree five or 
six feet in height. In front of this was a log-house, defended on the left 
by a flanker. 

Immediately upon entering the swamp, the English were attacked by 
a body of Indians, who quickly retired to the fort as they fired upon them. 

* Col. Rec. Conn., II., 389. 



l86 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1675 

Captains Mosely and Davenport with their companies, were the first to 
mount the log before the entrance of the fort. Captain Davenport fell 
mortally wounded by three bullet-shots, and committing his men to the 
charge of one Lieutenant Edward Ting, expired on the spot. Captain 
Mosely, who was well known to the Indians, was shot at by many, but 
was miraculously saved. Such was the well directed fire of the Indians, 
that those who had so precipitately entered the fort, were obliged to retire 
to the outside, with the loss of many brave men. The obstructions of the 
swamp and the snow were serious barriers in drawing the army up for 
action ; but the men pressed forward as rapidly as possible to the encoun- 
ter. The Connecticut troops, who formed the rear of the army upon com- 
ing up, were led by the spirited Captains Seely and Gallop to dash over 
the felled trees at the entrance. The fire of the Indians was terrible, and 
both Seely and Gallop fell mortally wounded ; and many of their men 
were slain and wounded. Meanwhile Captain Benjamin Church, with sev- 
eral others passed quickly round to the rear, where, finding the narrow 
uncompleted spot, covered only with a hedge of trees and brush, they 
climbed over unobserved by the Indians, who were directing all their fire 
to the front, and running down between the wigwams, standing closely 
together, they poured a well directed fire from their large muskets, loaded 
with pistol bullets, into the backs of the enemy. Attacked in the most 
spirited manner both in front and, rear the Indians were driven from the 
log-house and flanker into the centre of the fort, where, after a long and 
bloody action, they were totally routed, and fled under cover of the for- 
ests into a cedar swamp, where they remained all night without food or 
shelter. Their wigwams numbering about six hundred, were immediately 
fired ; and many of their old men, women and children perished in the 
flames, as well as their corn, stores, utensils, and other effects. About 
three hundred of their number were slain. Many were mortally wounded, 
and others died from their wounds, or perished with the extreme cold. 
About the same number were taken prisoners, and as many women and 
children. 

As the signal for retreat was given, the army marched some distance by 
the light of the burning fort and wigwams. Their loss had been severe and 
the victory dearly bought. Eighty of their number had been killed or mor- 
tally wounded. As the evening approached they left the swamp, bearing 
with them about two hundred dead and wounded. Captains Davenport, 
Johnson, Gardner, Marshall and Gallop had been slain. Captain Robert 
Seely of Stratford was wounded, and died a few days after. Captain Nathaniel 
Seely of Fairfield, while animating his men to enter the fort, was mortally 



i675l AN INTERESTING DECADE 1 8/ 

wounded by a renegade Englisliman named Tift. Tift had been justly pun- 
ished for some crime, and had deserted the colonial army, and fled to 
the enemy, by whom he was well received, and led some of their forces 
in the swamp fight.* Lieutenants Savage, Ting, Swain, and Upham were 
wounded. 

Massachusetts had one hundred killed and wounded. Plymouth twenty 
killed and wounded. The Connecticut troops suffered more than any of 
the others. Major Treat had twenty killed or wounded ; Captain Seely 
twenty ; Captain Gallop twenty ; Captain Waite seventeen ; Captain Mason 
nine ; and Captain Marshall fourteen ; f numbering in all one hundred, 
which was about half the loss of the slain and wounded in the expedition. 

The Rev. Thomas Ruggles left a manuscript bearing the following 
eulogy to their memory : 

" In tliat signal service, the fort fight in Narragansett, as we have our full number in 
proportion with the other confederates, so all say they did their full proportion of service. 
Three noble soldiers, Seely, courageous Marshall & bold Gallup died in the bed of honor, 
& valiant Mason, a fourth captain, had his death wound. There died many brave 
officers, & sentinels, whose memory is blessed, & whose death redeems their lives. 
Tiie bitter cold, the tarled swamp, the tedious march, the strong fort, the numerous & 
stubborn enemy they contended with, for their God, king & country, be their trophies 
over death. He that commanded our forces then, & now us, made no less than seventeen 
fair shots at the enemy, & was thereby as a mark for them. Our mourners, all over the 
colony, witness for our men, that they were not unfaithful in that day. A tradition exists 
that Moijor Treat received a ball through the brim of his hat, & that he was the last man 
who left the fort in the dusk of the evening, commanding the rear of the army. The 
burning wigwams, the shrieks & cries of the women & children, & the yelling of the 
warriors, exhibited a most horrible & affecting scene ; so that it greatly moved some of 
the soldiers. They were in much doubt then, & afterwards, often seriously inquired, 
whether burning their enemies alive could be consistent with humanity & the benevolent 
principles of the gospel." J 

Through the freezing cold and falling snow the brave army, conveying 
their dead and wounded, marched back about eighteen miles, and reached 
headquarters at one Mr. Smith's house about midnight. From extreme 

■" Tift was soon after taken prisoner. His gun was found to be loaded with slugstones. He 
was tried before a council of war, and condemned to be hanged and quartered. — Drake's Old 
Indian Chronicle, p. 197. 

•f Both Captains Robert and Nathaniel Seely were sons or grandsons of the renowned Captain 
Robert Seely, who distinguished himself in the Pequot war. 

t Trumbull's Hist, of Conn., I., 353-358 ; Bryant's Hist. Conn., II., 401-418. "The night 
before the fight, & all that Day, & the Night after, there fell such an extraordinary snow, that 
the like had not been known for many years, — no post come for our army for four or five days." — 
Drake's Old Indian Chronicle, 185. 



l88 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1675 

cold many of the soldiers were frozen, and their limbs badly swollen. 
About four hundred were unfit for service. The Connecticut troops 
suffered greatly from their hard march from Stonington to Pettyquamscot, 
and their exposure in the open fields, before they came up with the 
Massachusetts and Plymouth forces. 

The hospitality and kind treatment which the army received at the 
hospital of Rhode Island, and at the hands of the Rhode Island planters 
and their families, in whose homes some of them died of their wounds, and 
others remained until fit for service, are noticeable features of the cam- 
paign. 

The Connecticut troops were in such a disabled condition, that Major 
Treat resolved to return home with the remnant of his army. Between 
Pettyquamscot his men killed six and captured seven of the enemy ; and 
on their march home they killed about thirty more.'" 

The Massachusetts and Plymouth forces kept the field all winter. 
They scoured the country, captured many of the enemy, burned about 
two hundred wigwams, and secured a large amount of corn and beans. 
The loss of at least nine hundred wigwams, and almost the whole of their 
provisions, caused great distress among the Indians. It was in vain that 
the English made overtures of peace. King Philip was yet alive, and 
while he lived he had resolved to yield only with his life, or the annihi- 
lation of the white man, who had taken from his race the princely inherit- 
ance of their freedom and lands. 

* In a petition of Samuel Hall of Fairfield to the General Assembly of May, 1678, for a suitable 
compensation for the loss of his clothes, etc., at the great Narragansett swamp fight, he thus describes 
his sufferings : " I was not in the rear when Captain Mason was shot. I was just before him when 
he fell down, & shook him by the hand, I being shot down before in that very place, so that he 
fell very near me. But Captain Mason got up again & went forth, & I lay bleeding there in the snow ; 
& hearing the word commanded to set fire in the wigwams, I considered I should be burned, if I 
did not crawl away. It pleased God to give me strength to get up & get out, with my cutlass in my 
hand, notwithstanding, I received at that four bullets, two in each thigh as was manifest after- 
wards." His great coat and knapsack with all his clothing were lost, and he was compelled to lie 
bleeding upon the straw, " having not else to drink but water & ice with it, for several days after 
the fight." He was then carted to the water side and carried on board a vessel to be conveyed to 
Rhode Island, where he remained until able to go on crutches, suffering greatly in the extreme 
cold for want of suitable clothing. The Assembly awarded him fifty shillings, besides releas- 
ing him from paying his taxes. — Col. Rec. Conn., III., 5, 6. 

John Hubbell of Stratford, a son of Richard Hubbell of Fairfield, lost one of his fingers, and 
on account of this misfortune was granted one hundred acres of land, at Stratford. — Col. Rec. 
Conn., Ill , 6. 

Joseph James of Fairfield was so severely wounded, that on account of his disabled condition 
the General Assembly, in 1679, granted him a pension of fifty shillings per annum. —Col. Rec. 
Conn., III., 37. 



1676] AN INTERESTING DECADE 1 89 

After the destruction of their wigwams and stores, Philip and his con- 
federates left the Narragansetts, and moving northward, took up their 
abode in the Nipmuck country. On the 6th of January, Governor 
Andros sent a messenger to Hartford notifying the governor and council 
of war, that Philip, with four or five hundred fighting men, was encamped 
within forty or fifty miles of Albany. The council ordered that fresh 
troops should be raised and sent to the posts of danger as speedily as 
possible. The severity of the weather, and the suffering which the sol- 
diers endured in their late expedition from want of proper shelter and 
clothing, had caused loud murmurings among them, in consequence of 
which, on the loth a body of laws was drawn and adopted by the coun- 
cil " for regulating the forces, keeping the soldiers to their duty, & to pre- 
vent profaneness." By these laws a blasphemer against the Holy Trinity, 
suffered the pain of having his tongue bored through with a red-hot iron. 
Execrations, oaths, and neglect of Sabbath duties, were punished with 
loss of pay and other penalties. Murder, sedition, mutiny, raising or 
drawing a weapon against a superior officer, were punished with death or 
great severity. Drunkenness, thefts, and other vices caused the loss of 
pay or severe punishment. If any officer or private, through carelessness, 
or by playing at cards or dice, lost their arms, they were to be kept 
as pioneers or scavengers, until they furnished themselves with good 
arms. 

On the nth, instructions were sent to Major Gold and such assistants 
as were near Fairfield, to fill the vacancies of the deceased officers of the 
county ; to raise privates, and fit them for the expedition ; to supply sur- 
geons, gunsmiths, and blacksmiths ; to increase the county tax to iid.j 
"& to return to his charge by way of Hartford, & within eight days to 
New London." Owing to the severity of the winter, fearing that timely 
stores and other necessaries could not be sent from Boston without delay 
or loss, the council also instructed Major Gold to forward to New London 
beef, pork, wheat, meal or bread, clothing and shoes in the safest and most 
expeditious way. It was agreed that Massachusetts and Plymouth should 
pay toward the proportion of these supplies.* 

On the 13th, Major Treat was instructed to give orders to forward the 
forces of Fairfield and New Haven, with provisions and clothing, without 
delay to New London. Sergeant William Ward of Fairfield was appointed 
surgeon of the forces stationed at Nevv^ London. Jonathan Selleck of 

* Col. Rec. Conn., II., 394-397. The mills in Massachusetts were frozen up, in consequence of 
which the council of war urged the commissioners at the seaside to forward provisions as speed- 
ily as possible. 



190 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1676 

Stamford was appointed captain of the Fairfield county troops, and 
Stephen Burrett of Stratford, lieutenant. The Mohegan and Pequot 
Indians still remaining friendly, were recommended to the kindness and 
special encouragement of the commanding ofificers of the companies ; 
and that care should be taken to give them " a signal mark," so as to distin- 
guish them from other Indians. Great sufferings were endured by the 
Massachusetts forces sent to re-enforce the English troops at Narragan- 
sett. Eleven of their men were frozen to death, and others became sick 
and disheartened through the effects of hardship and extreme cold. Their 
bpirits were raised, however, by a junction with the Connecticut forces, 
the latter having reached New London on the 22d of the month. 

Although a tax of I2d. had been laid upon the planters at the seaside, 
by the advice and consent of Jehu Burr and John Banks of Fairfield, 
Captain Curtis of Stratford and the deputies of Hartford county, the 
council on the 24th further ordered that the rate of 12^. should be levied 
throughout the colony of Connecticut. During the latter part of the 
month, the council received information that a body of Indians was seated 
about eight or ten miles north of Providence, that others were scattered in 
small bodies to the Nipmucks to prey upon English plantations, intercept 
the army, and to notify the sachems in case of fresh danger in time to 
escape farther northward. They murdered two men and boys at Norwich, 
seized upon sixteen horses, fifty neat cattle, and two hundred sheep at 
Warwick. 

On the loth, the Narragansetts and Nipmucks attacked Lancaster, 
plundered and burned the town with its garrison-house, murdered several 
of its inhabitants, and took captive all the women and children. A few 
days after Medfield was laid in ashes, and twenty men killed. The inhabit, 
ants of Simsbury were advised to move to a stronger plantation. All the 
towns on the east side of the Connecticut were ordered to raise fortifica- 
tions, into which the inhabitants, with their cattle, hay and provisions, 
should be taken for safety. 

On the 24th, Major Treat received instructions to go up the river as far 
as Portland and Glastonbury, with one hundred men and as many friendly 
Indians as should join him on the way, to surprise the enemy and clear 
the coast before the main army moved northward. 

The Mohegans and Pequots were sent under the protection of a body 
of Englishmen into the Narragansett country to capture the enemy, and 
to seize their corn and provisions. On the 25th, Cornelius Hull, of Fair- 
field, was appointed by the council, lieutenant of Major Treat's life 
guard. Upon the opening of spring, the rage of the Indians broke forth 



1676] AN INTERESTING DECADE I9I 

in great fury. Early in March about three hundred of them attacked 
Warwick and Providence in Rhode Island, and drove away a large number 
of horses, cattle and sheep. An engagement took place at Warwick 
between the Indian sachem of the town and the English. Several Indians 
were killed, and four Connecticut men wounded. Northampton, Spring- 
field, Chelmsford, Groton, Sudbury, and Marlborough were attacked, valua- 
ble property destroyed, and many of the inhabitants killed or wounded, 
and the women and children led away into a helpless and wretched cap- 
tivity. 

Such was the condition of the English, that the planters were ordered 
to labor in companies while preparing their fields for sowing grain, etc., 
with watchmen on guard by day, and wards by night. All the inhabitants 
in the several plantations were ordered "to carry arms & ammunition 
with them to public meetings, both at times of worship & all other times." 
Threats from the enemy against the principal towns in New England led 
the council to order fortifications around Hartford, New Haven and all 
the other towns capable of raising them ; and to finish their stockades and 
flankers w^ith a ditch and breastwork. Every man and boy capable of 
v/orking was ordered to leave all other duties, except those of necessity 
and mercy, and assist in completing the fortifications, under a penalty of 
"high contempt of Authority in matters of great importance." 

To prevent the Indians from murdering the planters as they opened 
their doors in the morning, on the i6th the wards in the several plantations 
were ordered to rouse the inhabitants about an hour before daybreak, to 
repair fully armed to their fortifications, and there to stand on guard 
until the sun was half an hour high.'"'' Two scouts on horseback were 
ordered to be sent out from each town into the woods during the day, 
and make returns to the chief military officer of the condition of the 
enemy. 

The situation of the New England towns at this time was as critical as 
it was depressing. Several towns in Massachusetts were almost depopu- 
lated. The frontier towns of all the colonies were scenes of frequent inva- 
sions and devastations. The Indians throughout the western part of Con- 
necticut, were more or less influenced by the war spirit of the eastern part 
of the colony. At Milford they became very troublesome. It does not 
appear, however, that the Indians about Fairfield ventured to offer hostili- 
ties. The town of Fairfield was the military centre of the county, and too 

*The subtle Indians near daybreak came about the houses privately, and lay close in the 
fences, and as people came out of their houses shot them down. — Drake's Old Indian Chronicle, 
p. 213. 



192 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1676 

Strongly fortified for the Indians to attack it, even if they had the inclina- 
tion. Major Gold was constantly engaged in forwarding men, grain, pro- 
visions and clothing for the troops to Hartford and New London. The 
flower of the young men of the town and county embarked from Black 
Rock for the seat of war. Many families wore the badge of woe for their 
brave loved ones slain in battle ; and those who went forth to take their 
places filled other hearts with fears for their safety. From the summit of 
Grover's, Holland, Osborn and Round hills, vessels bearing courageous 
hearts, and stores of good cheer for the famished army, were seen gliding 
out of the harbor towards New London, while others were returning with 
the sick and wounded, bringing back news of the war. 

Before March ended, Captain Pierce, of Plymouth, with fifty Englishmen 
and twenty Indians, was drawn into an ambuscade near liis fortification 
(March 26), and sixty-three men were slain. Two days after forty houses, 
besides barns and outhouses, were burned at Rehoboth near Swanzy. 
Captain Wadsvvorth, while marching with fifty men to the relief of Sud- 
bury, was surrounded by the enemy, and all his men were slain. 

Meanwhile companies of volunteers from the eastern towns of Connec- 
ticut, with Pequots, Mohegans, and Nehantics, who had joined the English 
in February, with promises of sharing the plunder taken, succeeded in driv- 
ing the enemy from their quarters in the Narragansett country. " As soon 
as one company returned another went out immediately, so as to keep the 
enemy in continued alarm." On the 24th, Major Treat was ordered to 
march with one hundred men to join the forces assembled at Norwich and 
New London ; and to march to the Narragansett country as far north as the 
Nipmuck territory. He was instructed to destroy the enemy, and as much 
provision and estates as he met with. Before he reached Norwich, how- 
ever, intelligence was received at Hartford that the Indians had again 
attacked Simsbury, and burned part of the town. He was recalled to pro- 
tect the towns near Hartford. Scouts and companies continued to be sent 
out dlily to scour the country and woods near the plantations, and to 
guard the planters while plowing and sowing. 

On the 27th, the council of war proposed to the enemy an exchange of 
prisoners. They also made fruitless overtures of peace to all Indians bear- 
ing arms against the English. 

On the 31st, the council ordered, that half of the soldiers of New 
Haven and Fairfield counties should daily follow the scouts, and kill or 
secure Indians skulking near the plantations on the Connecticut river. 
Major Gold, with three of the commissioners nearest Fairfield, was in- 
structed to press men into the service, so as to relieve those " who had 



j576] an interesting DECADE 193 

great need to go to their habitations to recruit ; " and to send them to 
Hartford as speedily as possible. 

The council also addressed a letter to Governor Andros urging him to 
engage the Mohawks to join the English forces against the enemy, who 
were reported to be gathering in numbers, twenty miles north of Albany. 

On account of the scarcity of breadstuffs and provisions, a vessel was 
dispatched from New London to Barbadoes, to obtain supplies for the 
army. 

About the first of April, the enemy experienced a serious blow, which 
not only humiliated their savage pride, but greatly disheartened their lead- 
ers. Captain Dennison of Stonington, with one hundred English volun- 
teers, and several Mohegans, Pcquots and Niantics under young Uncas, 
made an excursion into the Narragansett country, and captured Nannun- 
tenoo or Canonchet, son of Miantonimo, and several of his principal men, 
killed fifty others, and took forty prisoners. Canonchet had been a bitter 
enemy of the English, and was, at the time he was captured, boasting of 
the part he had taken in cutting off Captain Pierce and his men. Fearing 
if he was released, he would become more bitter against the English than 
ever, it was decided that he should die. He was therefore taken to Ston- 
ington, and there shot, at his own request, by young Uncas, the Pequots, 
the Mohegans, and Niantics sharing " in the glory of destroying so great 
a prince." On the 5th of April, the council expressed regret that they 
were not first notified of the capture of Canonchet, before it v/as decided 
to put him to death.''" 

Before April ended, a grandson of Pomham, who was esteemed the 
bravest and best soldier among the Narragansett sachenis, was taken and 
killed. On the 15th of April, the council had ordered Major Treat to dis- 
band the soldiers, who had been pressed into the service ; and to instruct 
them to remain in their respective counties, equipped and ready to be ral- 
lied for the field at a day's warning. Provision was made that if they were 
suddenly called to active service, their planting fields should receive every 
necessary attention. On the 27th, the council ordered Major Gold to 
send as many Engli.shmen and Fairfield county Indians, f as were willing 
to join the volunteers at New London, in vigorous pursuit of the enemy. 
On the 1st of May, several Indians were sent into the Nipmuck country, 
with overtures of peace to all Indians at war with the English, and to meet 
the colonial agents of the council at Hadley. 

The colony sustained a great loss at this time in the death of Governor 

* Trumbull's Hist. Conn., I., 344, 345. Drake's Old Indian Chronicle, 230-232. 
f Col. Rec. Conn., II., 437. 
13 



194 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1676 

John Winthrop.* The spring court of election was held at Hartford on 
the I Ith of May. Major Gold was made an assistant of the General Court ; 
Jehu Burr and John Banks deputies ; and Jehu Burr and William Hill com- 
missioners, and also members of the standing council of war. Orders were 
issued to raise 350 men for a standing army, out of which eighty were to 
be taken from Fairfield county. Major Treat having been elected deputy- 
governor, Major John Talcott of Hartford was appointed chief in com- 
mand, and was ordered to be at Norwich with his forces by the 27th of 
the month. Captain Jonathan Selleck of Stamford, was chosen captain 
of the Fairfield county troops, and Cornelius Hull and John Morehouse 
of Fairfield ensigns. Each county was ordered to send several hundred 
bushels of wheat and other provisions, out of which Fairfield county was 
to send four hundred bushels of wheat, and one hundred and fifty bushels 
of Indian corn and peas. 

The council of war met on the i8th, and, as the agents sent to treat 
with the Indians had in vain endeavored to make peace with them, it 
was resolved to suspend all controversies, and to prosecute the war 
vigorously. 

The following day (May 19), the Indians assembled near Deerfield, and 
were attacked by a party of 160 soldiers from Hadley, Hatfield, and 
Northampton. Two hundred of their number were slain, and but one 
Englishman killed. They rallied, however, from their defeat while the 
army was returning to Hadley, fell upon its rear, and killed Captain Tur- 
ner and thirty-seven of his men. This battle has ever since been called 
the great " Falls Fight." 

The following day Captain Benjamin Newbery, v\'ith eighty men was 
sent to defend Northampton and the adjacent plantations. He reported 
to the council that there were about three hundred Indians at Brookfield ; 
and suggested that if Major Talcott with his forces could be sent to join 
him, he thought an attack upon them might be successfully made. 

On the 24th, Major Treat received orders to march with his forces to 
the Nipmuck country. A few days after he left Norwich with two hun- 

■"■ Governor John Winthrop died at Boston, on the 5th of April, 1676, in the seventy-first year 
of' his age. He was cliosen governor in 1657, and deputy governor the next year. He was again 
chosen governor in 1C69, and was annually elected to this office until his death. He was the son 
of Governor John Winthrop of Massachusetts. Under a commission in 1635, from Lord Say and 
Seal, he erected the fort at Saybrook, and was also appointed governor of the adjacent country. 
Trumbull says of him : " He was one of the greatest chymists of his age, a member of the royal 
society of philosophical transactions, & one of the most distinguished characters of New Eng- 
land." He rendered great and important services to Connecticut both at home and abroad ; and 
his death was regarded a universal calamity to the colony, and to all New England. 



1676] AN INTERESTING DECADE I95 

dred and fifty English soldiers, and two hundred Mohegan, Pequot, and 
friendly Indians. They scoured the woods and country on their march 
northward ; but everywhere found the forts and wigwarhs of the enenny 
deserted. On the 5th of June, they entered the Nipmuck country, and 
falling upon Chanagongum, they killed nineteen Indians, and took captive 
thirty-three more. Major Talcott then marched rapidly through Brook- 
field to Northampton. On account of the length of this march, and the 
fatigue and hunger endured by the ofificers and soldiers, it has ever since 
been called, " tJie long & Jnmgry march.'' Great disappointment was 
here experienced by Major Talcott, that the Massachusetts troops had not 
arrived, which he had been notified would join him at Hadley.'" Four 
days after, about seven hundred Indians made a furious attack upon Had- 
ley. A large body of this number lay in ambush in the road, between 
Northampton and Hadley, in order to attack the English forces; but, dis- 
covering their design, Major Talcott by a circuitous route led his forces to 
the scene of action, and drove the enemy from the place. Several houses 
outside the fortifications were burned. The men who ventured out of the 
garrison to save them, were killed or wounded. A number of horses, cat- 
tle and sheep were slain or taken away. 

On the 9th Major Gold " & the gentry of that county," received 
orders to forward forthwith to New London for the famishing army, two 
hundred bushels of wheat baked into bread, and several barrels of meat. 
On the 2 1 St Major Talcott reported to the council, that he had scoured the 
country on both sides of the Connecticut as far as the falls above Pacom- 
tock, and found the Indians had retired back towards Watchosuck into the 
Nipmuck country. 

The council directed him as soon as the recruits, provisions, etc., arrived, 
"to march out against the enemy, & to attack & destroy them, as God 
should deliver them into their hands."' A few days after, the Massachu- 
setts troops joined Major Talcott. He immediately set out with a goodly 
army towards the Narragansett country. On the ist of July he took four 
of the enemy prisoners. The following day (the Lord's day), a large party 
of Indians was discovered in a great spruce swamp. They were surrounded 
by the English and Indian allies, "and within three hours 171 were slain 
or taken prisoners." Among them were forty-five women and children, 
who were saved. Among the slain was the sunck squaw Magnus, sister of 

* It appears that the Mas-achusetts forces under Captain Henchman, were retarded in their 
march to Hadley, by coming upon a party of thirty-six Indians fishing near Lancaster, of whom 
they killed seven, and took twenty-nine, mostly women and children, prisoners. — Drake's Old 
Indian Chronicle. 



ig6 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1676 

Ninigret and wife of Metka, a son of Canonicus. Her chief counselor was 
also killed, and fifteen arms taken. 

The following day Major Talcott continued his march towards Provi- 
dence, where it had been reported a body of the enemy had fled to make 
peace with the people of Rhode Island. He surrounded Providence neck, 
and the same day Warwick neck, where his men slew and took captive sixty- 
seven more Indians and eleven arms. The whole number taken and slain in 
these two engagements was 238. Major Talcott lost but one Indian in 
both engagements, and not one Englishman. The same day news reached 
the major, that Philip was making his way towards Mount Hope. He at 
once resolved to overtake him ; but his Indians refused to accompany 
him, although the chaplain, the Rev. Mr. Fitch of Norwich, used every 
argument to persuade them to go. The major wisely determined not to 
part with them, and therefore on the 4th halted at Richard Smith's 
house, one of the strongest fortifications at Narragansett.'^'^ The following 
day, hearing the enemy was largely concentrated in those parts, on the 5th 
he encompassed Boston neck and Port Judith, " but found only one old 
woman who was fast asleep." That night he and his men quartered at 
Thomas Stanton's farm-house at Monacontange, and the following day, 
being short of provisions, he set out towards home. On the way sixty more 
of the enemy were taken. From the beginning of April to the 6th of July, 
the Connecticut volunteers and the troops under Major Talcott, killed and 
captured about 420 of the enemy.f 

Upon receiving a letter from Major Talcott, dated July 4th, giving an 
account of his successful campaign, the council resolved to prosecute the 
war as expeditiously as possible. On the 8th orders were sent to the Major 
to recruit his army ; and by way of encouraging the Indians to join him, to 
of^er them ammunition, Indian corn, and all the plunder they could obtain 
during their march. The soldiers from Fairfield and the seaside, were 
ordered to furnish supplies for the army at the rate of " about five pounds 
of cheese or meat, & fifteen pounds of bread to a man." The magis- 
trates of the towns were to impress men for the service, and each man was 
offered a horse and a quart of liquor. The soldiers were to take with them 
" as many cutlasses as they'could." 

Men driving carts and horses, laden with newly baked bread from the 
great old-fashioned ovens of the mothers of Fairfield, were again seen 
making their way to Captain Todd's vessel at Black Rock, which had been 
sent from New Haven for that purpose. About this time the council 
received information from Major Andros, that the Mohawks had attacked 

* Drake's Old Indian Chronicle, p. 180. \ Trumbull's Hist, of Conn., I., 348. 



1677] AN INTERESTING DECADE I97 

Philip's allies, in a venture they had made towards Albany, and not only 
slain many of them, but taken several prisoners. Tiic council at once 
gave orders, if the Mohawks approached the river towns for supplies, to 
encourage friendly feelings by giving them relief.* 

The condition of the enemy at this time was most distressing. The loss 
of their forts, wigwams and stores had caused great suffering among them. 
They had been unable to plant corn and beans during the spring, and they 
were almost wholly without provisions. During the extreme cold of the 
winter, they had sought refuge in dense forests, and subsisted upon nuts 
and such game and fish as they could obtain. Within the last few months, 
one defeat after another had followed in quick succession. Famished, 
discouraged and overwhelmed by their hopeless condition, they separated, 
and in flying companies sought refuge in different parts of the country. 
Many surrendered themselves to the mercy of the English. About 
the 20th of July, the council wrote to Governor Andros that a large 
party of Indians had approached Westfield and carried away horses, 
cattle and sweet corn ; but being pursued by some of the garrison had fled 
towards the Hudson, and passed southward of the road to Albany, in order 
to avoid the Mohawks. They requested Andros to intercept them, so as 
if possible to prevent their seeking refuge among the hostile Indians of 
Virginia. 

Meanwhile Major Talcott, having recruited his army, was marching 
northward, and reached Westfield in time to pursue the flying Indians. 
Three days after their attack upon that town, he discovered them lying 
on the west side of the Housatonic river. It was too late in the day to 
approach them, consequently the army preserving great silence, rested 
upon their arms over night. Before daybreak they were formed in two 
divisions, one of which was to cross the river below the enemy and encom- 
pass them on that side, while the other, was creeping quietly up the 
east bank of the river, prepared to fire when those on the west side, upon 
reaching their position, should fire a single gun. While the division on 
the west side was advancing to surround the enemy, they were discovered 
by an Indian, who had left his sleeping companions and gone down the 
river to fish. He at once gave the alarm, crying Awanux ! Awanux ! One 
of the party fired and killed him instantly ; but the shot was taken for the 
signal gun by those on the east side of the river, who at once rushed upon 
the enemy as they were rousing from their sleep, and killed and wounded 
a large number of them. The others fled to the west side of the river, 
and, as the division on that side had not reached their destination, they 

* Trumbull's Hist, of Conn., I., 464. 



198 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1676 

made good their escape. In the attack, the chief sachem of Brookfield 
was killed. Forty others were slain and fifteen taken captive. Among 
the slain were twenty-five warriors. 

From a letter sent by the council to Major Andros, dated August 19th, 
it appears that the above party of Indians, numbering about 150, were 
making their way to a fort at Paquiage, on the west side of the Hudson, 
where they were to be received and sheltered by friendly Indians ; and as 
soon as they were sufficiently reinforced, to make another attack upon the 
English plantations. This design was happily defeated by Major Tal- 
cott's victory. Meanwhile Major Church, of the Plymouth colony, and 
the Massachusetts forces had been very successful in taking parties of the 
enemy. Several Indians, in order to save their lives, betrayed the hiding 
places of their friends. In this way. King Philip was hunted for weeks 
from place to place. His wife and family had been taken prisoners, his 
brother and chief councilors had been slain ; but not for one instant did he 
yield to any suggestions of peace. At last he was betrayed by an Indian, 
whose brother he had shot for presuming to approach him with proposals 
of peace. 

On the 19th of August, one James Shore, from Rhode Island, came in 
a vessel to Fairfield, and reported that one of Philip's men, having become 
discontented, had gone before the authorities at Rhode Island and offered 
to guide the English to a Swamp where he lay. " Whereupon Capt. Sand- 
ford with a picked company of stout & able men English, & Indians hast- 
ened away & being come to y^ place which y* Indian had described to 
them, by his directions laid some English & Ind : in ambush at y^ passage 
out, & the rest brake in upon them on the other side. Philip in laboring 
to escape was shot at i*' by y^ English but missed, & then shot down by 
an Indian. All the rest, but one were killed & one or two wounded 
escaping. They cut off Philip's head & hands & brought them away." * 

Thus died one of the bravest Indian warriors in New England. Believ- 
ing he was fighting for the honor of his country, and having lost at the 
hands of the English and their Indian allies, his wife, children, brother 
and principal warriors, he treated with disdain every overture of peace 
from them, preferring death at their hands. 

Upon hearing of Philip's death, the Indians in arms either submitted to 

* Philip having one very remarkable hand, being much scarred, occasioned by splitting of a 
pistol in it formerly. Capt. Church gave the head and hands to Alderman, the Indian who shot 
him, to show to such gentlemen as would bestow gratuities upon him, and accordingly he got 
many a penny by it. [Church's History of Ind. War.] Col. Rec. Conn., II., 471. The news 
of Philip's death was sent by William Jones, of New Haven, to Governor Leete at Hartford. 



1676] AN INTERESTING DECADE I99 

the English, or fled to the Indians in Canada, and to the Mohegans upon 
the Hudson river. It has been estimated that at the beginning of the 
war, Philip and his brother Wetamoe had about 500 warriors, and the 
Narragansctts 2,coo. The Nipmucks and other hostile northern tribes, 
numbered about 500 more, making in all, independent of the eastern 
Indians, about three thousand engaged in the plot to exterminate the 
English. At the sitting of the General Assembly in October, John Banks 
of Fairfield, was appointed one of a committee to hear and settle the 
claims of the Mohegans, Pcquots, Narragansctts and other Indian allies 
of the English. All captives who were proved murderers were sentenced 
to death. 

The sunck squaw, Ninigret's daughter, with about one hundred of her 
men, was granted a reservation lying between Westerly and Hopkinton, 
Rhode Island, provided she preserved peace with the English, and did not 
entertain hostile Indians. Other Indians were granted small parcels of 
land upon the same terms. All young and single Indians of both sexes, 
were ordered to be taken into English families, and as a pledge of their 
fidelity, to be apprenticed to ten years' service, at the expiration of which 
time, they were to be granted their liberty if they proved loyal, otherwise 
they were to be sold into slav^ery. 

A list was taken of the Indians, and a yearly tax of ^s. a head laid upon 
every grown man. A division of the prisoners was made among the 
counties. One man in each county was appointed to receive and place its 
proportion of captives in families. John Banks was awarded this duty for 
Fairfield county."* 

Major Treat was given authority to raise an army of volunteers, to kill 
and destroy all hostile Indians and all such as had escaped from the 
English. Cohause, an Indian who wounded William Hill, and who had 
killed several Englishmen, burned an English house and been engaged in 
several robberies, having been captured between Milford and New Haven, 
and having been " a desperate enemy of the English" was sentenced by 
the Assembly as " child of death," to be put to death, " which was done by 
the Indians." 

Ninigret or Ninicroft and his men, having remained faithful to the 
English, were allowed to remain unmolested in the ownership of their 
lands. The Mohawks rendered great assistance during this war, and 
proved useful friends of the New England colonies. William Hill was 
appointed to sign receipts for the colony tax, which was now 18 pence 

* The widow of Surgeon William Ward, of Fairfield, was presented by the General Assembly 
with one of the young Indian boys. — Col. Rec. Conn., II., 14. 



200 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1676 

upon a pound. A committee vvas appointed to value the lands in the 
several plantations. House lots in Fairfield were valued at 255-. per acre; 
one-fourth of the improved farming lands at 20s. and the other three- 
fourths at 14s. per acre. The taxable estates of the town were valued at 
^^9,428. 

For the plentiful harvest of the summer ; the removal of sickness from 
the plantations; the continuation of their civil and ecclesiastical liberties, 
and the divine aid they had received in subduing their savage enemies, 
the third Wednesday of November was appointed a day of general thanks- 
giving throughout the colony of Connecticut. During this cruel and 
devastating war, Fairfield became the leading town in the number of its 
volunteers, and in its bountiful supply of provisions for the army. The 
old-fashioned chimney ovens of the matrons of Fairfield were filled with 
loaves of wh eaten bread, which they packed in barrels, to be sent from 
Black Rock to New London. Mothers, v/ives, and sisters spun wool and 
linen, out of which they made warm blankets and clothing for their own 
families, and others who were destitute. Every spare moment, from early 
dawn until late at night, at the spinning wheel, and with flying knitting 
needles, was employed in making warm woolen stockings for the feet of the 
sufferers. The mills of the town were kept in almost constant motion dur- 
ing the winter, to supply wheaten flour for her own and the Massachu- 
setts and Plymouth soldiers. The blacksmiths, who combined the art of 
repairing guns with their trade, were equally as busy; and with the gold- 
smiths I an shot and bullet-balls for the soldiers. In all New England 
there was not a more energetic, constant laborer, in forwarding men, 
ammunition and supplies for the united colonies, than Major Gold. John 
Banks and Jehu Burr, in their positions as members of the council of war, 
from their post of duty at Hartford, were among the ablest councilors in 
the New England colonies. Through Major Gold, dispatches were sent 
by the council to Major Andros, and John Banks, in several instances, 
delivered them in person. Sergeant William Ward rendered great assist- 
ance to the Rev. Gershom Buckley,"^ besides having the care of the troops 
at New London. To picture Fairfield at this time, is to exhibit a busy, 
bustling, thriving town, a centre of civil and military activity. Like most 
of the western towns of Connecticut, the inhabitants experienced none of 
the losses, devastations by fire and cruelties of the savages, which the 
towns in the northern and eastern parts of the colony suffered, " There 
were but few families or individuals, however, who had not lost some near 

* Gershom Buckley, a brother of Thomas and Peter Buckley of Fairfield, vvas one of the 
greateist surgeons of his day, and was the chief surgeon of the Connecticut forces in Philip's war. 



1676] AN INTERESTING DECADE 20I 

relative or friend."* The sons of almost every leading family in the 
town were in the regular army, or among the volunteers. The brave 
troops of Connecticut, of which Fairfield always contributed a goodly 
share, had the honor and happiness of giving a check to the war ; and it 
is a singular fact, that in all the companies sent out, not one was surprised 
or cut off. At least one-seventh part of the whole militia, besides the 
volunteers of Connecticut, were in constant service; and every man and 
youth in the colony capable of bearing arms, did his duty in watching, 
warding, and protecting the towns from the neighboring Indians, should 
they prove troublesome. 

It does not appear that the Fairfield Indians committed hostilities 
upon the planters ; but in the heart of almost every sachem in the country, 
dwelt the spirit of jealousy, which gave cause at all times for constant 
vigilance. Indeed " eternal vigilance was the price of liberty " to all the 
planters of New England. Some of the Indians of Fairfield shared in the 
glory of this war, of which mention has already been made. 

Tlie troops and volunteers of Connecticut were now disbanded ; but 
each county kept a military force ready for service, in any sudden emer- 
gency. 

Great pains was taken this year to promote Christian training in fami- 
lies, which resulted in the passage of the following law by the General 
Court : 

" Whereas reading the Bil)le, catechising of children & daily prayer is part of God's 
worship, & the homage due to Him, to be attended conscientiously by every Christian 
family to distinguish them from the heathen, who call not upon God, this Court recom- 
mends the mitiisters in the towns to visit each family, & inquire into the state of religious 
training, to convince & instruct them in their duty, & by all due means to encourage 
them, that none may be found among us utterly ignorant or profane." 

The officers and families of each town were called upon to assist the 
clergyman in his work. If any heads or governors of families proved obsti- 
nate or refractory, the grand jury was to present such persons to the county 
court, to be fined or punished, or bound to good behavior, according to 
the merits of the case. All persons sojourning or living in families were 
required by law to attend the worship of God, " & to be subject to the 
domestic government of the said families, under a penalty of five shillings 
for every breach of this order." It was also made a law that no children 

* About six hundred of the inhabitants of New England, the greater part of whom were the 
flower and strength of the country, either fell in battle, or were murdered by the enemy. — Trum- 
bull's Hist, of Conn., I., 568, 



202 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1676 

should be able to dispose of themselves, under pretense of lawful marriage, 
without the consent of their parents, or without the approbation of the 
authorities of the place. Before any man was allowed to enter into the 
holy state of wedlock, he was required to make known his intentions to 
the parents or guardians of the woman he wished to marry. If the woman 
was without either, he was obliged to consult with and gain permission 
from the town authorities, before he was permitted to pursue his court- 
ship. It was also a law that the nuptials should not be celebrated until 
eight days after the marriage contract, during which time the names of 
the parties to be married, were required to be published in some public 
meeting. 

That a more strict regard might be paid to the Sabbath, than appears 
to have been observed during the religious excitement which had prevailed 
in the colony, the following law was passed: 

"Whereas, Notwithstanding- former provision made for the due sanctification of the 
Sabbath, it is observed tiiat by sundry abuses the Sabbath is profaned, the ordinances ren- 
dered unprofitable, wb.ich threatens the rooting out of the power of Godliness, & the 
procuring of the wrath & judgements of God upon us & our posterity, for prevention 
whereof, it is ordered by this Court, that if any person or persons henceforth, either on the 
Saturday night, or on the Lord's Day night, though it be after the sun is set, shall be 
found sporting in the streets or fields of any town in this Jurisdiction, or be drinking in 
the houses of public entertainment, or elsewhere, unless for necessity, every such person 
so found, complained of & proved transgressing, shall pay ten shillings for every such 
transgression, or suffer corporal punishment for default of due payment ; nor shall any 
sell or draw any sort of strong drinks at any time, or be used in any such manner upon 
the like penalty of every default." 

" It is also further ordered that no servile work shall be done on the Sabbath, viz : 
such as are not works of piety, charity, or necessity, & no piofane discourse or talk, rude 
or unreverent behaviour shall be used on that holy day, upon the penalty of ten shillings 
for every transgression hereof ; & in case it be circumstanced with high handed pre- 
sumption as well as profaneness, the penalty is to be augmented at the discretion of one 
of the judges."* 

In order to suppress extravagance, as well as to discourage persons of 
humble walks in life from aiming to appear in public above their station, 
the following law was passed : 

"Whereas, excess in apparell amongst us is unbecoming a wilderness condition, & the 
profession of the gospel, whereby the rising generation is in danger to be corrupted, which 
practices are testified against in God's Holy Word. It is therefore ordered by this Courte 
& authority thereof that whatsoever person shall wear gold or silver lace, or gold or silver 
buttons, silk ribbons, or other superfluous trimings, or any bone-lace above three shil- 

* Col. Rec. Conn., II., 280. 



1677 1 AN INTERESTING DECADE 203 

lings per yard, or silk scarfs, the list makers of the resp'^ctive towns are hereby required 
to assesse such persons so offending (or their husbands, parents or masters, under whose 
government they are,) in the list of estates, & they to pay their rates according to that 
proportion, as such men use to pay to whom such apparell is allowed as suitable to their 
ranke : provided this law shall not extend to any magistrate or public officer of the 
CO ony, their wives or children, whoe are left to their discression in wearing of apparell, 
or any settled military commission officer, or such whose quality r.nd estate have been 
above the ordinary degree though now decayed." 

•' It is further ordered that all such persons as shall for the future make, or wear, or 
buy apparell exceeding the quality & condition of their persons & estates, or that is appa- 
rently beyond the necessary end of apparell for covering or comliness, either of these to 
be judged by the Grand Jury & County Court where such presentments are made, shall 
forfeit for every such offence ten shillings. And if any taylor shall fashion any garment 
for any child or servant, contrary to the mind of the parent or master of such child or 
servant, he shall forfeit for every such offence ten shillings." 

There appears to have been a strong effort made by the governor and 
magistrates of Connecticut at this time, to meet the increasing demand of 
the people, in regard to the method of ecclesiastical taxation. In October 
the General Court ordered, that where there was more than one religious 
society in a town, all persons should pay to one or both of them towards 
the minister's maintenance, viz. : 

" If they shall choose to pay to one, they shall pay in full proportion to the rest of 
that society ; if not, they shall pay to both societies : the one half of every such person's 
estate shall be rated with the people of one society : & the other half of their estate with 
those of the other society, in full proportion with their neighbors of each society." 

The bitter experiences of the New England planters at this time in 
their religious as well as civil troubles, and the terrible war with the Indi- 
ans, led the General Court to urge upon all the ministers of the colony, 
" to stir up & awaken their congregations to the duties of serious repent- 
ance & reformation," for which purpose the third Wednesday in Novem- 
ber was set apart. 

In the month of September the townsmen of Fairfield invited Richard 
Burgiss of Boston, a blacksmith, to settle among them ; and as an induce- 
ment for him to remain, he was granted a small piece of land on the south- 
west corner of the church-green for his shop, and an interest in the per- 
petual common for pasture and wood. He accepted the invitation, and on 
the 9th of January following the above lands were confirmed to him. His 
shop for many years stood on the Church-green, south-west of the meet- 
ing-house and school-house.'^' 

* B, Town Votes, p. 61. 



204 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1677 

In January the governor of Massachusetts received from Mr. Nathaniel 
Mather of Ireland, one thousand pounds, "to be divided among the colo- 
nies for the relief of the distressed." On account of the great suffering of 
the Massachusetts and Plymouth towns, several of which had been wholly 
cut off, the General Assembly of Connecticut, at this time, presented these 
two colonies with their proportion of this gift. At the May election 
Major Gold continued in his office of assistant to the General Assembly ; 
John Banks and John Wheeler were chosen deputies, and Jehu Burr and 
John Banks commissioners. A law was passed to prevent the exportation 
from the colony of buck and doe skins, " which had been so serviceable & 
useful for clothing," under a penalty of forfeiting the full value of each 
skin. It appears that Sasco James made an application to the Assembly 
at this time, for the release from prison of an Indian by the name of Alin- 
chanks which was refused ; the cause of his arrest does not appear. 

The officers who had served in Philip's war, were honored with the 
same position in the train-bands of their respective towns, as they held 
during the war, or a portion of the band, even if commanded by a militia 
officer. They were also freed from half their watch and ward in times of 
peace. John Banks was appointed one of a committee to be present at 
the house of Mr. John Bull, in the conquered Narragansett country, on the 
lOth of June, to meet with a committee from Massachusetts, to examine 
the lands, and to judge what parts were suitable for plantations, the 
number of inhabitants to form settlements, and to fix the bounds of each 
town."^ 

The Assembly considered that the Connecticut troops had largely con- 
quered and subdued the Narragansetts, and therefore had just claims to 
those lands. In view of this fact, they regarded the act of the king's 
commissioners, in making Narragansett and Rhode Island the king's 
province null, by virtue of their conquests. 

While the Narragansetts and their allies were conquered, the remnant of 
their tribes still continued to afflict the border plantations. In considera- 
tion of this grievance, the secret efforts of Major Andros and his asso- 
ciates to gain control of the chief offices of Connecticut, and the suffer- 
ings of their sister colonies from the eastern Indians, the last day of May 
was appointed a day of fasting and prayer, specially for blessing upon 
their cause before the king of England. The colony tax was reduced to 
?>d. on a pound, to defray the expenses of the late war, to be paid in 
wheat, peas, Indian corn, pork and beef, at their legal rates. A law was 

*See John Banks and Major Talcott's report, dated June 16, 1777 — Col. Rec. of Conn., 589, 
590. 



1678] AN INTERESTING DECADE 205 

passed regulating the price of tanning hides, also for shoemakers. No 
shoemaker was allowed to charge over five pence half penny for plain 
and wooden-heeled shoes, above men's sevens three soled; nor "above 
seven pence half penny for well wrought French falls." Lieutenant Cor- 
nelius Hull was granted one hundred acres of land, to be laid out to him 
where he should choose to select it at Fairfield, provided it did not inter- 
fere with other grants. John Banks was made one of a committee to 
audit the colonial treasurer's account. 

The leading men of Connecticut had, at this time, cause for increased 
anxiety in regard to their chartered liberties. Enemies to their peace 
had been busy during the war both at home and in England. In conse- 
quence of the continuation of this unhappy state of things, the 21st of 
November was appointed a day of fasting and prayer. The ministers 
throughout the colony were requested " to stir up their people to the work 
of solemn humiliation & prayer, with turning to the Lord in this our day 
of Jacob's trouble." 

At a meeting of the townsmen of Fairfield, November 2d, Samuel More- 
house was granted liberty to erect a fence across the highway in Uncoa 
neck, with gates for egress and regress. This fence probably stood a very 
short distance south-east of the present Black Rock bridge. A heavy fine 
was exacted if any of the town gates were left open. 

To prevent fires, every house owner was ordered to keep a long ladder 
on his house. This custom is still observed by some of the farmers. Each 
house owner was also ordered " to sweep his chimneys in the winter once 
a fortnight, & in the summer once a month." Richard Wilson was 
appointed for the east end of the town, and Henry Castle for the west 
end. If the chimney sweepers and the house owners could not agree 
about the necessity of sweeping any chimney, they were to submit the 
question to some indifferent person. In November Samuel Morehouse 
and the rest of the east farmers, were granted liberty by the townsmen 
to erect a stable " 20 ft. square, & 9 ft. broad & 40 ft. long, at some con- 
venient place on the Meeting-house green." 

At the May election Major Gold was chosen an assistant, Jehu Burr 
and Richard Hubbell deputies, and William Hill and Jehu Burr commis- 
sioners for Fairfield. Jehu Burr was also appointed to administer the 
oath of a commissioner to the other commissioners, of the county. John 
Banks was made one of a committee, to settle the bounds between Stam- 
ford and Norwalk. 

At a town meeting held June 25th. it was voted that Richard Ogden's 
mill on Mill river and the land adjoining it, should be conveyed to him by 



2o6 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1678 

a written deed, according to a former contract. It was also agreed to talk 
with him about removing the mill. Sergeant George Squire was appointed 
to care for the preservation of the school lands. In addition to the school 
laws already passed, the General Court ordered that every town should 
keep a school at least three months in a year, or forfeit five pounds, 
which sum should be paid towards the maintenance of a grammar school 
in the county. 

In order *' to stir up & excite the county towns to the attendance of so 
wholesome an order " as that of keeping up a good Latin school, it was 
decreed, that if any of the county towns neglected to keep such a school, 
they should pay the fine of ten pounds to the next town in their county 
which accepted this requirement, " & so ten pounds annually, till they 
came up to the attendance of this order." The schools were maintained 
by a general tax, unless some other way of supporting a school-master was 
adopted. It was further ordered that any town which had increased to 
the number of thirty families, should maintain a school "to teach children 
to read & write." 

The town of Fairfield granted to Mr. Josiah Harvey the overplus of 
his school rate. This vote gives a clue to the school-master of the central 
district of the town at that time. 

Isaac Wheeler, John Odcll and Mathew Sherwood, in the name of the 
inhabitants of Pequonnock, presented a petition, that they might retain 
their school tax, towards maintaining a school on the east side of Uncoway 
river. They represented that as they lived almost four miles from the 
centre of the town, they found it very diflficult to send their children so 
far to school, " & if any, none but the greatest whom [they] cannot spare 
to send constantly abroad." — " They had hired a school master, 'who had 
been approved on that account' in several towns in the colony ; & they 
had forty seven children already entered at school, besides several others, 
who could not be spared except in winter. Tiiey desired no help from 
the town, but asked ' that they might be freed from paying to the town 
in reference to their school.'" 

The Rev. Samuel Wakeman added his recommendation in favor of the 
petition in the following words: "The above petition, brought unto me 
for my advice & countainance. finds me as an unfeigned well-wilier to 
ye (as I thinke) honest scope of your said petitioners, & carries with it so 
reasonable an aspect, yt I am bold to subjoine my humble request to 
theyrs (yt other difificulties being solved (if it may be) by your prudent 
interposition & direction) yt may find you ready to grant theyr desirs, & 
further them in theyr well ment motion." 



i679l AN INTERESTING DECADE 20/ 

The governor and assistants recommended the court of Fairfield to 
grant to the planters of Pequonnock as much as they could spare of their 
county taxes and fines, for the settlement and encouragement of a gram- 
mar school.* 

The teacher they had already hired was Mathew Bellamy. He had 
taught at Stamford in 1658, and had also been a teacher at Guilford and 
Killingworth, and was at Saybrook in 1677. He is supposed to have been 
the grandfather of the noted Rev. Joseph Bellamy.f 

The following year, " the town granted unto Mr. Bellamy one acre of 
land on the east side of Unquowa River for a building lot," provided, "he 
be a school-master within the town of Fairfield seven years from this 
date." Two acres more were soon after added to this grant. In case he 
removed before the expiratioti of seven years, he was to forfeit the land 
to the town, and they were to pay him for such improvements as he had 
made upon it. In case he died within the seven years, tlie land with its 
improvements, was to revert to his wife and children.:!: At the sitting of 
the October Assembly, it was voted that the Indian male servants living 
in English families, should be taxed as other persons until further orders. 
Tlie colony tax was reduced to three pence on a pound to be paid in 
county pay.§ 

Increased apprehensions still existed among the leading men of New 
England, on account of the malicious representations made against them 
by their enemies to the king of England. Most conspicuous among these 
was Sir Edward Randolph, who came to Boston in 1676 ; and annually, 
either in person or by writing, made complaints against them, specially in 
regard to their acts of trade and navigation. Being well informed of the 
influences at work, the colonists were apprehensive of being totally 
deprived of their liberties. 

At the May election Major Gold continued in his ofifice of assistant of 
the General Assembly, John Banks and Richard Hubbell were re-elected 
as deputies, and John Burr and Jehu Burr were made commissioners. 

A law complimentary to the king was passed during the sitting of this 
Assembly, which was as follows: * 

" This Court orders that the present roades from plantation to plantation shall be 
reputed the country roades or 'King's Highway' & so to remayne until! the Court doe 
see good reason to make alteration of the same. And whereas the inhabitants of each 
plantation, are by law required once a yeare to worke a day in cleareing- of the brush, it 
is by this Court recommended to the townesmen of the severall plantations, to improve 

* Col. Rec. Conn., II.. 8. % B, Fairfield Town Votes, 1678. 

f Snvaq^e's C'nealogical Diclionary. § Col. Rec. Conn., III., 16. 



208 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1679 

their inhabitants in cleareing the comon roacles, in the first place, that lye between towne 
& towne, vntill the sayd roades are cleared at least one rod wide." 

From this date the road known as the King's Highway, at Fairfield, 
received its name. 

In 1679, previous to which time, everything connected with the settle- 
ment of Fairfield appears to have worn a most encouraging aspect, the 
town was visited by a most alarming epidemic. But little information is 
to be found about it, or what the character of the disease was, which made 
such ravages among the inhabitants. From a document to be found in 
the State House, at Hartford, the following account is given : 

"Fairfield, 1679. — A sore sickness attended with an uncommon mortality in this 
town, though very healthy in the neighboring- towns. There died about 70 persons within 
three months & there was hardly enough well persons to tend the sick & bury the dead." 

New England was generally afflicted. Sickness prevailed in many of 
the settlements, the crops were visited with mildew and blight, and cater- 
pillars and worms destroyed the vegetables and fruits. The 3d of June 
was set apart by the General Court " as a day of public humiliation & 
prayer." In the month of September the same year, " the ' Reformed 
Synod ' met at Boston, to consider the evils that have provoked the Lord 
to bring his judgments on New England." The celebrated Mather men- 
tions the evils which fell upon New England colonies at that time. He 
says : 

" By land some of the principal grains, especially our wheat & our peas, fell under 
an unaccountable /?/asl, for which we are not even unto this day delivered ; & besides 
that constant frown of Heaven upon our husbandry, recurring every year, few years have 
passed wherein either worms or droughts, or some consuming disasters, have not befallen 
the labors of the husbandmen. By sea, we are visited with multitudes of shipwrecks, 
enemies preyed on our vessels and sailors, and the affairs of the merchants were clogged 
with losses abroad, ox fires breaking forth in the chief seats of trade at home, wasted 
their substance with yet more costly desolations."* 

Owing to these calamities, upon recommendation of the commissioners 
of the united colonies in 1678, the General Court ordered that all the 
churches throughout New England should unite in humble prayer and 
supplication, that the Almighty would remove his anger from them. "The 
Synod convened at Boston Sept. 10. 1679 choosing Mr. John Shermon and 
Mr. Urian Oakes for joint moderators, during the biggest part of the sea- 
son." " The Assembly kept a day of fasting & prayer," after which 

*Magnalia, Vol. II., B. V., p. 4. 



i^yg] AN INTERESTING DECADE 209 

several days were spent in discussing the two questions which were offered 
for consideration, viz. : 

" What arc the provoking evils of New England? & zvhat is to be done that 
so those provoking evils may be reformed?" 

Thirteen evils were enumerated in reply to the first question. Answers 
were made to these questions, setting forth the way by which the provok- 
ing evils of the times might be overcome. Ministers were emboldened to 
preach against the sins of the people. " But of all the effects that followed 
upon the synod, there was none more comprehensive & significant than 
the renewal of the covenant^ The renewal of the covenant varied only in 
words in different churches, but the substance was in all points essentially 
the same."^ 

On account of many persons sojourning in some of the towns in the 
colony, who not only voted illegally but intermeddled with the laws of the 
towns and colony, a law was passed, " that none be admitted an inhabi- 
tant, or householder but a man of sober conversation, with at least fifty 
shillings freehold estate in the common list besides his person, should vote 
in the choice of town or county affairs, provided he had not been made a 
freeman, under a penalty of 20^ fine." 

At the October session of the General Assembly, John Banks was 
appointed one of a committee to settle the boundary line between Milford 
and Derby. A general thanksgiving was appointed for the first Wednes- 
day of November throughout the colony. Special thanks were requested 
to be offered for the deliverance of the king and his people from the 
Popish plot ; as well as their own " preservation, notwithstanding the plots 
& machinations of evil minded men." One of the chief causes for dis- 
quietude at this time was, that if Andros succeeded in becoming governor 
of New England, he would make the Church of England the established 
church of the colonies. Great fears were also entertained that the Roman 
Catholics would gain strong foothold in New York. 

On the 25th of October the Sasco Indians agreed to make an exchange 
of their lands in the Sasco fields for other lands belonging to the town. 

* Mather's Magnalia, Vol. II . B. V., p. 283. 
14 



CHAPTER V 
1680 — 1690 

THE DECADE OF THE ENGLISH REVOLUTION 

Claim of John Wampus. — First prison on Meeting-house green. — Magistrates of 1680. — Trade 
and Navigation. — Indian troubles. — Fairfield troops. — Bedford. — Edward Randolph, deputy 
for New England. — Henry Wakeley. — Branding. — Ship building. — Purchase of Old Indian 
Field. — Court of admiralty. — Fairfield estates. — Meeting-house repairs. — Military colors. — 
Blight of crops, and great sickness. — Sign post. — Non-residents. — Pirates. — Silver coins. — 
Connecticut boundary-line. — Major Gold sent to New York. — Danbury. — Death of Charles 
II. — James II. proclaimed King. — Fairfield patent. — Royal letters. — Writs of Quo War- 
ranto. — Edward Randolph. — Highway across Golden-hill. — Petition to the King. — Governor 
Dongan. — Sir Edmund Andros. — Boundary between Fairfield and Norwalk. — Nathan Gold, 
Jehu Burr and John Banks disfranchised. — William Whiting.— Danbury made a town. — 
Governor Andros assumes command of Connecticut. — The Charter Oak. — Governor Andros' 
Council. — John Perry, postman. — French and Indians. — Major Gold and Jehu Burr reinstated. 
— Oppressive laws of Andros. — Andros' proclamation. — Rev. Increase Mather. — Abdication 
of James II. — William and Mary. — Andros imprisoned. — Connecticut magistrates restored to 
office. — William and Mary proclaimed in New England towns. — Address to the King and 
Queen. — Major Gold ambassador to New York. — Connecticut troops sent to New York. — 
French and Indian depredations. — Rev. Increase Mather's success in England. — Preparation 
for war with the Canadians and Indians. 

The laborious and valuable services rendered by Fairfield during Philip's 
war, added greatly to the luster of her fame. Nobly had her sons borne 
a heavy share of the hardships and sacrifices of this war ; and by their 
spirit and bravery deservingly won the name of heroes. Never did women 
deserve greater praise than the mothers and daughters of Fairfield, for 
their constant industry and helpfulness in sustaining the life of the colo- 
nies at this critical time. 

Scarcely, however, had peace settled over her borders than a fresh dis- 
quietude arose. The planters had for some time believed themselves, or 
claimed to be, the lawful possessors of the last six miles square of lands 
purchased of the Aspetuck Indians in 1670; but their claim was now dis- 
puted by John Wampus, alias White, by virtue of his marriage to Prasque, 
the daughter of Romanock, chief sachem of the Aspetuck and Sasquan- 
nock Indians. Romanock had died during the latter part of the previous 
decade, and Wampus' claim was based upon a deed of Aspetuck given to 
Prasque by her father, dated September 11, 1660. Revisited the chief 
magistrates of Fairfield, and before them asserted his claim to be a just 
and lawful one. So persistently did he push the matter, and demand that 



i68o] THE DECADE OF THE ENGLISH REVOLUTION 211 

his lands should be bounded out to him, that he incurred the displeasure 
of the magistrates, who ordered his imprisonment. He then employed 
Richard Thayer, a lawyer of Milford, not only to apply to the General 
Assembly, but also to address a letter to the Lords of the King's Council, 
to which he received the following reply : 

" From the Lords of the Cotatcil to the Governor and Magistrate : 

After our hearty commendations. Wliereas John Wampus, alias Whites, has, by 
petitions humbly represented unto his Majesty, that he is, by marriage of Anna, the 
daughter of Romanock, late sachem of Aspetuck & Sasquanaugh, upon the death of said 
sachem, become sole proprietor of those tracts of land where the town of Fairfield, in the 
colony of Connecticut, is built ; that the petitioner's said father-in-law did, about nineteen 
years since, deliver up the possession of the said land to the petitioner, who sometime 
after sold part thereof to Capt. Denison, Amos Richardson & others of Connecticut Col- 
ony, for the sum ot three hundred &; fifty pounds, or thereabouts; & that by the evil 
practices of Major Nathan Gould, & other inhabitants of Fairfield, he is not only kept out 
of his just rights, but was also imprisoned by them in May last, when he went to demand 
possession of his estate ; withall complaining of the great hardships & miseries he & other 
native Indians are subject unto by the laws of that colony. His Majesty taking into con- 
sideration the miserable condition of the petitioner, & declaring his royal pleasure that 
not only the petitioner, but all such Indians of New England as are his subjects, & sub- 
mit peaceably & quietly to his Majesty's government, shall likewise participate of his royal 
protection, we do by his Majesty's express commands signify the same unto you, requir- 
ing you to do the petitioner such justice as his case may deserve ; & for the future to 
proceed in such manner as his Majesty's subjects may not be forced to undertake so long 
& dangerous voiages for obtaining justice, which his Majesty expects shall be speedily & 
impartially administered unto them upon the place. And so not doubting of your ready 
compliance herein, we bid you heartily farewell. From the Council Chamber in White- 
hall, the 28th day of March, 1679. 

Your loving friends, 
Anglesley, Clarendon, 

Ailesbury, J. Brickenwater, 

Falconberg, J. Erule, 

John Nichols. 
To our Loving Friends, the Governor &l Magistrate of his Majesty's Colony of Con- 
necticut, in New England. 
Rec'd May 17, I680."* 

Meanwhile, the authorities of the town had strictly forbidden Wampus 
to draw division lines within the township, and proceeded to obtain, if 
possible, a general deed from all the Indian sachems of whom they had 
purchased lands. At a town meeting in February, it was voted that a small 
piece of land on the green should be granted to build a prison, with a 
dwelling-house thereon, also a garden plot and yard plot. 

* Col. Rec. Conn., III., 281. 



212 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1680 

During the spring the people of Mill-plain expressing dissatisfaction on 
account of some of the planters having so far encroached upon the high- 
way that it was lost, Jehu Burr and Samuel Morehouse were appointed a 
committee to settle the boundaries of the trespassers, and to lay out the 
highway to a place called Applegate's Landing. At the May election 
Major Gold was re-elected an assistant ; John Banks and Jehu Burr 
deputies; and Jehu and John Burr commissioners. John Banks was made 
one of a committee to audit the colonial treasurer's account. He was 
also appointed one of a committee to examine the plantation of Wood- 
bury, and to settle the division lines between Woodbury, Derby and 
Waterbury. Jehu Burr was made one of a committee with Major Treat, 
John Talcott, and the Rev. James Fitch, to hear and settle all quarrels 
between the English and Indians, and all Indian quarrels. He was also 
appointed with Mr. William Fowler, of Stratford, to settle the bounds of 
one hundred acres of land upon Corum hill to Ackenach, sachem of Mil- 
ford and Derby. 

The acts of trade and navigation had for many years become so offen- 
sive to the colonists, and so contrary to their chartered liberties, that they 
were openly opposed by many ; but, as the king had ordered that the 
governor in each colony should take the oath of trade and navigation, it 
was administered to Governor Leete in the presence of this assembly.* 

A series of twenty-seven questions from a committee of the king's 
privy council was also read, and an answer voted to be returned by the 
governor, and as many of the assistants and council as could be present, 
to draw up suitable answers. A synopsis of the replies to these questions 
gives a very interesting idea of many things bearing upon the history of 
the town of Fairfield, and is as follows : 

I. Answer. We have two annual General Courts, according- to his Majestie's charter. 

(2) We have two Courts of Assistants, consisting of the governor & six assistants, with 
a jury, for the trial of capital offences, & for appeals. 

(3) The colony is divided into four counties, each county holding two courts annually, 
consisting of magistrates with a jury, for actions of debts, slander, & criminal matters of 
less importance. 

(4) In special matters the Governor with his assistants, holds extra courts between the 
two annual sessions of the General Court. 

* By the king's proclamation of November 24, 1675, all other but English vessels were pro- 
hibited from importing to the colonies commodities from Europe not laden in England. The 
governor of each colony was required to make returns of all vessels laden with plantation com- 
modities in his colony, and all bonds taken by him. On the 19th of May, 1680, WiUiam Brath- 
wayt, Esq., was granted a commission by the liing, as surveyor and auditor general of all revenues 
arising in America, with power to appoint deputies and under officers. — Col. Rec. of Conn., I., 307. 



i68o] THE DECADE OF THE ENGLISH REVOLUTION 213 

2. Answ. Having but little traffic abroad, the Court of Assistants decide cases need- 
inj^ attention. 

3 Answ. The Legislative power rests in the General Court, & the execution in the 
regular appointed courts. 

4. Answ. Having sent you one of the new law books, particular attention is directed 
to the fact, that we had been careful not to make any laws repugnant to the statute laws 
of England. 

5. Answ. The troops of the colony coiisists of but one regular body ; but three more 
companies could be raised consisting of forty horse each. The other forces are train 
bands. One Major in each county commands the militia of the county, subject to the 
orders of the governor; the latter being the general of all the forces in the colony. The 
number of the whole body of trained soldiers is 2507 — Hartford county 835. New Haven 
county 623. New London county 509. Fairfield county 540. 

The arms of troopers are pistols & carbines, & of foot soldiers, muskets & pikes. In 
the late war with the Indians, dragoons proving most useful, about 300 were employed in 
the service with good success. 

6 Answ. We have one small fort in the colony not over strong, at the mouth of the 
Connecticut river, called Saybrooke, easily supplied with provisions from the towns about 
it. There are other good harbors, specially one at New London needing fortifications & 
artillery. 

7 Answ. Few privateers or pirates venture to enter the harbors of our dangerous 
coasts. 

8 Answ. We have about 500 fighting Indians. We are strangers to the French, & 
have no knowledge of their commerce. 

Our chief trade is with Boston, where clothing is purchased & paid for with what pro- 
visions we raise. 

The trade with the Indians since the war is worth nothing. 

9 Answ. We have neighborly correspondence with Plymouth ; indifferent with Massa- 
chusetts ; but none of good account with Rhode Island. On account of the "demands he 
makes upon our limits, & ill titles he lays upon us," our correspondence with Sir Edmond 
Andros is not what it was with his predecessors. 

10 Answ. " Our boundaries are expressed in our charter. The number of acres of 
settled or unsettled lands we cannot guess, the country being mountainous, full of rocks, 
swamps, hills & vales. Most of that fit for planting is taken up. What remains must be 
subdued, & gained out of fire, as it were, by hard blows, & and for small recompense." 

II. Answ. "Our principal towns are Hartford upon the Connecticut river; New 
London upon the Pequot river ; New Haven & Fairfield by the sea side : in which towns 
is managed the principal trade of the colony. Our buildings are generally of wood ; 
some of them are of stone & brick ; many of them of good strength & comlynesse for a 
wilderness ; both those of wood, stone & brick : [many forty feet long & twenty foot broad 
& some larger] ; three & four stories high."* 

12 Answ. There are twenty-six settled towns in the colony. 

13 Answ. Between the Narragansett river on the east bounds, & the Mamaroneck 
rivulet on the west, are the following rivers. 

(i) The Connecticut, with ten or twelve feet of water at its entrance. Vessels of 60, 

* " Crossed Out." 



214 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD ' [i6So 

& 80 tons go six miles up the river to Hartford : but by reason of flats & falls cannot 
^o more than six miles above Hartford. 

(2) The New London or Pequot river permits ships of 500 tons to go up to the town. 
Vessels of thirty tons go above New London to Norwich. 

(3) At New Haven & Fairfield, vessels of 300 tons or larger can enter their harbors. 

(4) Vessels of 30 or 40 tons enter the rivers of Guilford, Milford, Norwalk, Stratford, 
Stamford & Rye. — all these rivers having good tide harbors. 

14 Answ. "The commodities of the country are wheat, rye, barley, Indian corn, 
pork, beef, wool, hemp, flax, cider, perry, tar, deal-boards, pip^-staves, & horses;" but to 
say the yearly value of what is exported, or spent upon the place, we cannot. Small 
quantities of exports sent to Jamaica & other Carribian Islands, & bartered for sugar, cot- 
ton, wool & rum, & some money; rarely a vessel laden with staves, peas, pork, flour for 
Maderia & Fayall, & bartered for wine. No need of trade with Virginia, on account of 
raising as much tobacco in the colony as the planters need. Great loss has been sustained 
by blasting of the wheat & peas by worms & mildew, seriously affecting trade. 

(2) Good oak timber, pine & spruce is used for masts; oak & pine boards, tar, pitch 
& hemp for vessels. 

(3) Possibly 8 or 9000 pounds of commodities imported annually. 

15. Answ. No salt-peter raised in the colony, nor have we any knowledge of the 
right materials for raising it. 

16. Answ. About twenty petty merchants trading on the coast from New Foundland 
to New York. Few foreign merchants ever come to trade with us. 

Men from 16 to 60 form our train bands. 

There are but few servants among us, & less slaves, not more than thirty in the colony. 

17. Answ. So few English, Scotch & Irish come into the colony, that it would be hard 
to give an account of them. Some years none ; sometimes a family or two in a year ; 
three or four blacks perhaps in a year from Barbadoes, which are usually sold at 22^. 
apiece, according to an agreement made with the masters of vefesels or merchants that 
bring them. 

18. Answ. Nodefinite account of whites or blacks born in the colony to beobtained ; 
but few blacks, & but two blacks christened that we know of. 

19. Answ. We can give no perfect account of the marriages for the last seven years. 

20. Answ. We can give no account of the deaths within seven years, but as to the 
mcrease of the population, it is about as follows : 

In the year 71 our number of men were 2050 
76 " " " " 2303 

J7 " " " " 2365 

78 " " " " 2490 

79 " " " " 2507 

21. Answ. The estates of merchants, we make no guess of: but the estates of the 
corporation in general amount to 1 10788 lbs. 

22. Answ. Very seldom other vessels than those from Boston or New York come to 
trade with us. The number of our vessels amount to 4 ships, & 24 pincks, ketches, & 
barks ; the combined weight of which amounts to about 1000 tons. 

23. Answ. The obstructions we find to trade & navigation, are, want of men ot 
estates to venture ; of money at home for managing trade, & the high rates of labor. 

24. Answ, If Hartford, New London, New Haven & Fairfield could be made free 



,6SoJ THE DECADE OF THE ENGLISH REVOLUTION 215 

ports for 20 or 15 years, it would he the means of increasing navigation & tiie wealth 
& trade of the colony. 

25. Answ. No duties are taken by us either in export or imports, except in wine & 
liquor, which is small, & used towards the maintenance of free schools. 

26. Answ. Our people are generally strict Congregationalists, others more liberal 
Congregationalists, & some moderate Presbyterians. There are also about 4 or 5 Seven- 
day men, & so many Quakers. 

27. Answ. Great care is taken to instruct the people in the Christian religion by min- 
isters catechising them & preaching to them twice every Sabbath day, and on Lecture 
days ; and by masters of families according to our laws, instructing <& catechising their 
children & servants. 

(2) In our 26 towns vve have one & twenty churches. 

(3) In every settled town in the colony there is a settled minister, except in two towns 
lately begun, who are seeking for ministers. 

(4) The ministers are supported by taxes, at the rate in some places of 100 lb per 
annum, some 90 lb, some 60 lb ; but in no place less than 50 lb. 

(5) Every town provides for its own poor & impotent people. Seldom any want relief, 
labor being dear, viz : 2s. & sometimes 2^., 6d. for a day laborer. Provision is cheap viz : 
wheat 4=. a bushel, Winchester measure, peas 3^; Indian corn 2^., 6d ; pork 3d., pr. lb. beef 
2id pr. lb ; butter 6d. pr. lb. 

Beggars & vagabonds are not suffered ; but as soon as discovered bound out to service.* 

More particular instructions were sent with the king's letter of May 
24, " for the enforcement of the laws relating to the trade & navigation 
of the colonies. With these letters came also inclosed copies of the acts, a 
book of rates, & copies of the proclamation of 1675, v/hich prohibited 
the importation to the colonies of any coinmodities of Europe not laden 
in England, blank bonds of returns, &c., impressions of the several cus- 
tomers or patent collectors & comptrollers, both in the port of London 
& the outer ports." Fairfield, and all the neighboring towns west of 
New Haven, had cause at this time for serious apprehensions in regard to 
their Indians. Since Philip's war, the Mohawks had attacked and killed 
many of the friendly Indians within the limits of Massachusetts ; and it 
was now rumored that " all the Western Indians beyond New Haven, 
were joined with the Mohawks in plotting against the English." 

Whether it was on account of this rumor, or, as was most probable, to 
be prepared to resist the ambitious schemes of Randolph and Andros, or 
the encroachments of Massachusetts on their eastern boundaries, the 
General Assembly took occasion to place their troops and militia in fight- 
ing order. They declared, that hereafter, " if any attempt should be made 
in a forcible or hostile manner upon his Majesty's colony, or any part 
thereof, within the bounds granted b)' his Majesty's charter, either by 

* These Answers are dated Hartford, July 15, 16S0. — Col. Rec. of Conn., III., 292-300. 



2l6 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [r68o 

natives or any others, upon any pretense whatsoever," the sergeant-major 
and the military ofificers in the several counties and plantations of the 
colony, after first demanding a surrender and being refused, should seize 
and bring such offenders to justice, or by force resist and repel such 
enemies. All civil and military troops and train-bands of each town were 
required to aid and assist in quelling such invasions. Three shillings fine 
was levied upon any refusing or neglecting training duties. All disorderly 
firing after training days was prohibited, after the shutting in of the even- 
ing, by a fine of five shillings. Each plantation was recommended to 
procure one or two great pieces of artillery. Supplies of ammunition were 
ordered to be procured with all speed. All commissions already granted 
to military ofificers were to remain in force until other orders were issued. 
An oath was prepared and exacted from every commissioned officer, that 
he should faithfully discharge his duty according to the laws of the General 
Court, Governor and Council of Connecticut, made and established in their 
behalf. 

The third Wednesday in June was appointed a day of fasting and 
humiliation to secure the smile of God's mercy upon the colony. 

The magistrates of Fairfield lost no time in preparing for the approach- 
ing crisis in their affairs. To secure their lands and make good their pur- 
chase of them from the Indians, was now an all-important step to be 
taken. The next was to have no undivided lands within the boundaries 
of the township, which would give a foothold to Andros or any other 
claimant. Accordingly the Indian sachems of Fairfield, or their descend- 
ants, of whom the English had purchased the several parcels of lands 
from time to time, were assembled on the sixth of October before the 
magistrates of the town, to sign and witness a new deed of the sale of 
their lands to the planters. By this deed all the lands within the deed of 
March 20, 1656, March 21, 1661, and January 19, 1670, were included. 
The Indians reserved their Sasco, Pequonnock, Uncowa, Old Indian Field, 
Wolves Pit Plain and Aspetuck reservations. They acknowledged that 
they had lawfully sold their lands to the English ; that they had previ- 
ously received full recompense for them, and agreed to make no further 
demands. This deed bears the names of the principal sachems of the 
town, and those of Norwalk who claimed an interest in the lands east of 
the Saugatuck River.* Having completed this amicable settlement with 
the Indians, the town committee proceeded without delay to bound and 
stake out the long lots, highways, etc., for a final dividend of all undivided 
lands. At the October term of the General Assembly, John Banks was 

* See Appendix. 



i68i] THE DECADE OF THE ENGLISH REVOLUTION 21/ 

made one of a committee to examine the lands north of Stamford, with a 
view of forming a new plantation, and to make a report of the same to 
the next Assembly. This was afterwards called Bedford. He was also 
appointed one on a committee to audit the colony and Hartford county 
accounts. 

Notwithstanding the many grievances which filled the hearts of the 
planters with fear and trembling for their liberties and prosperity, the 
third Wednesday in November was appointed a day of general thanks- 
giving, for the mercies still continued to them. At a town meeting held 
on the 2 1st of December, an article of agreement was drawn in behalf of 
the town by John Burr, Lieutenant John Banks, Sergeant George Squire, 
John Wheeler and William Hill, to make over by a formal deed the old 
mill site on Mill river, to Richard Ogden ; he agreeing to maintain a 
suflBcient corn-mill on said stream forever.* 

On the 15th of October, Sir Edward Randolph was appointed by 
William Braithwait, deputy for New England. This step added to the 
former fears o^ the colonists, but Governor Leete addressed a letter to the 
king's commissioners of custom at London on the 24th of January, in 
which he gives assurances of the fidelity of the Connecticut planters, and 
promises "to grant Mr. Randolph such necessary aid & assistance as 
might be requisite." He closed his letter by saying: "If any Lords of 
the Privy Council or Treasury will concern themselves to father our light, 
in this or anything proper to our loyalty, we shall thankfully accept the 
same, and do our duty therein." At the May election Major Gold was made 
an assistant of the General Assembly, John Wheeler and Richard Hubbel, 
deputies, and Jehu Burr and John Burr, commissioners. For services 
rendered the colony in and about Middletown, and for injuries received, 
Henry Wakeley of Pequonnock, was granted two hundred acres of land, 
which was laid out to his heirs some years afterwards, west of Newtown, 
between Fairfield and Danbury. 

The law prohibiting the importation of deer skins, so largely used for 
clothing, was repealed, with the proviso, that if any one within a month 
before transportation, gave notice at a town meeting, or by a writing 
fastened upon the tavern or mill door, and should find a purchaser for his 
skins in the town or colony, at six pence per pound, in wheat or money, 
he should not send the skins out of the colony, under a forfeiture of the 
full value of as many skins shipped as the purchaser desired. 

The restraint laid upon grain by the governor and council during 
Philip's war, was also removed. Seven years were allowed for collecting 

*B, Town Votes, Dec. 21, 1680. 



2l8 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [i63i 

debts. Besides two pence allowed by law on the shilling to the collector 
of taxes, he was also allowed four pence for every mile traveled, and 
necessary ferryage, in case of levying for non-payment. On account of a 
great abuse in the colony in branding horses, private persons were for- 
bidden to brand them. Each owner was required to take his horse to the 
regularly appointed brander of the town in which he lived, under a 
penalty of 40^. No bargain or sale of any horse was made binding, unless 
recorded in the town Brand Book, where he was sold.* 

It was also ordered that " if any person should take up, or brand or 
mark any horse contrary to this order, he shall pay for the first offense five 
pounds to the treasury, or be whipt ten lashes on the naked body ; for 
the second offense he shall pay ten pounds or be whipped twenty lashes ; 
for the third offense he shall be committed to the house of correction, & 
there be kept at hard labor & with coarse diet for six months, & be 
whipped once a quarter severely, or pay a fine of twenty pounds." All 
stray horses not branded, over two years old, were to be sent to the con- 
stable, who was to cry them for three days in the three next towns ; and 
if no owner appeared by the end of three weeks, he, with the advice 
of the nearest assistant or commissioner, was to sell them, or mark them 
for the use of the county, f 

That commerce might be facilitated, encouragement was given by the 
Assembly to ship-builders; and that none but good ships might be built, 
a law was passed, " that before vessels of over fifteen tons were planked, 
the owner or builder should repair to the nearest magistrate or commis- 
sioner, who should appoint one or more capable persons to examine the 
work & workmen, as was usual in England, under a penalty of ten 
pounds." Black Rock became for many years a resort for ship-builders, 
and vessels of considerable size were built and launched from its ship- 
yards. Smaller vessels were built at Southport, at Palmer's ship-yard. 

On the i8th of May, the Indians gave a quit claim deed of the Old 
Indian Field to the townsmen of Fairfield. On the 25th of July, Richard 
Thayre addressed a letter to Governor Leete, in which he stated that he 
was employed by the executors of John Wampus, to make inquisition 
after the estate which his father, Romanoak, gave him ; that he had 
applied to William Hill, the town recorder, for information in regard to 
the claim of Wampus, " who stated that he had the evidences in his cus- 
tody, but would not deliver them or copies of them, without the advice of 
Major Gold ; " that on the 22d of July he had summoned the recorder to 
give his evidence before the magistrates of the town, which he had refused 
* Letter B, of Fairfield Town Votes. f Col. Rec. Conn., III., 79. 



i682] THE DECADE OF THE ENGLISH REVOLUTION 219 

to do. Finally he demanded an order from the governor to be allowed to 
measure the lands Wampus claimed. On the same day the governor and 
assistants replied, that they were willing to allow all lawful acts in this as 
in other cases, " but to suffer strangers to draw lines within townships, 
without order or consent of the town, we think not safe to encourage."* 
This appears to have ended all claims which Wampus or White laid to 
the Aspetuck lands. At the October session of the General Assembly, 
the county rates were reduced to two cents on the pound, but if any per- 
son paid his full rate in money, one-third of his tax was abated. 

Fully resolved to resist all claims and demands made on the colony, 
save under the laws of the General Assembly, an order was issued, " that 
no Brief craving the collection of the good people in this colony, shall be 
read or attended to in any plantation, without the sanction of the governor 
& his council ; & by their direction into what towns & congregations it 
shall pass, except for some special occasion, for some distressed or afflicted 
person." The court of assistants for the future was made a court of 
admiralty. " In the months of June, July & August a drought prevailed 
throughout the country, which caused great loss of corn & grass, valued at 
many thousand pounds." There was a great deal of sickness from a 
malignant fever, " of which many died." In December, a list of the num- 
ber of acres, and the value of the estates granted to the inhabitants of Fair- 
field was recorded. A second list was recorded on the 30th of December 
following of the building lots, pasture lots and long lots, granted to the 
inhabitants in 1670. This list is invaluable in its exactness of the number 
of acres, rods, quarter acres and feet ; as well as the width of the long lots 
belonging to each land dividend holder, f 

A vote was passed on the 30th of December, that Faul's Neck should 
be laid out with sufflcient highways about it. 

The Indians having removed from the Old Indian Field, and transferred 
their right to the planters of Fairfield, on the loth of March it was voted, at 
a town meeting, to divide the said field among the lawful land dividend 
holders. John Wheeler and Samuel Morehouse were appointed to survey 
and lay out each planter's proportion. At a town meeting held on the 
25th of April, Josiah Harvey was granted " a parcell of land in pay for 
thirty-eight shillings he lent the military company of Fairfield, toward 
purchasing a set of colors." 

At the May election Major Gold was made an assistant of the General 
Assembly ; Jehu Burr and John Banks deputies ; and Jehu Burr and John 

*Vol. I. Towns and Lands. State Archives of Conn., p. 196. Col. Rec. Conn., ILL, 282. 
+ See Appendix. 



220 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1683 

Burr commissioners. A heavy fine was imposed upon the guard at meet- 
ing-Jiouscs neglecting their duty. Major Gold was made one of a com- 
mittee to settle a dispute between the Potatuck Indians and the planters 
of Woodbury. John Banks was appointed one of a committee to audit 
the colony accounts ; and also the accounts between the colony and 
Hartford county. The last Thursday in May was appointed a day of 
fasting and prayer in every town in the colony, " to beseech the Lord to 
bless the fruits of the fields, the trees & and all the labors of our hands ; " 
to grant them their civil and religious liberties, " & to continue to be their 
defense in the midst of them." Sore sickness and many deaths had occurred 
in the colony ; and the blight upon the fruit and harvest of the previous 
year was regarded a judgment from God for the sins of the people. 

At the October session of the Assembly it was ordered : "that a sign 
post should be set up near the center of every town," where, " proclama- 
tions, sales of houses & lands, or any other occasion should be set up to 
be read." The sign post at Fairfield was erected upon the green, directly 
opposite the meeting-house. 

The colony tax was at this time reduced to a penny half-penny on 
the pound. On account of numerous unruly persons thrusting them- 
selves into the towns, contrary to the law that only accepted persons by a 
vote of the townsmen, should be allowed to live in the towns, whereby 
much mischief had been made, a fine of twenty shillings per week was laid 
upon all persons who should in any capacity take up their residence in 
any part of the colony, except apprentices and servants bought for hire. 
Vagrants or suspected persons " without certificates that they were per- 
sons of good behaviors," were ordered to be sent from constable to constable 
to the place from whence they came. 

The towns on Long Island Sound had for some years past been much 
annoyed with pirates, who had been especially troublesome within the past 
year. Some of them were captured, but they caused considerable 
uneasiness, on account of their seizing vessels going out to sea, and prey- 
ing upon the cattle and grain along the coast. A law was passed that all 
persons captured on board vessels of a suspicious character, should be sent 
to the common jail, and " two & two chained together, legs & hands, sent 
to the place from which they came." 

On the loth of February the number of acres, quarter acres, rods and 
feet, were laid out to the land dividend holders, according to the list of 
March loth in the Old Indian Field. '"^ During this year the first and second 
Compo dividends were also assigned to the lawful holders. At the May 

* See Appendix. 



ifjgj] THE DECADE OF THE ENGLISH REVOLUTION 221 

election Major Gold was made an assistant, Jehu Burr and John Banks 
deputies, and Jehu and John Burr commissioners. In order to bring 
money ii;to the colony and increase trade, the Assembly ordered that all 
silver pieces of eight, Mexican, pillar or Spanish money, and civil pieces, 
should be valued and passed at six shillings apiece ; half pieces and 
quarter pieces to be valued proportionally. Good Peru pieces were to be 
valued at five shillings, and all smaller pieces accordingly. John Banks 
was again appointed one of a committee to audit the treasurer's account 
with the colony. 

Independent of the former perplexities, Edward Randolph having 
received a power of attorney from the heirs of the Duke and Duchess of 
Hamilton for a renewal of their claim^s in New England, he appeared 
before the commissioners of the united colonies at Boston on the 30th of 
June, with a view of establishing their assumed title. But as the duke's 
patent exhibited by Randolph, had no proper signature or seal affixed to 
it, an answer was returned by the governor and council on the i8th of 
December: "That it was presumed the said original deed was never com- 
pleted according to law ; " and " that there is no evidence of the ratifica- 
tion of the deed from the Great Council of Plymouth ;" that even if such a 
deed had ever existed, " the grantees had not complied with the conditions 
or considerations on which all the grants of the Plymouth Council were 
founded, by propagating the Gospel, & planting a colony to the enlarge- 
ment of the king's dominions ; " and that they had never taken possession, 
purchased the native right, or made any legal claim to the territory. 

That the grant or patent from the council to Lord Say and Seal, Lord 
Brooke, etc., in 163 1, preceded that to the Marquis of Hamilton, and 
included the greater part of the same territory ; and that this patent, 
assigned to Connecticut, was confirmed by the charter of Charles II., who, 
in his letter of April 23, 1664, " was pleased to call his grant a renewing 
of our charter." That the duke having failed to make known his preten- 
sions, the colonists of Connecticut had purchased the native right, and 
under the protection of the King's Letters Patent and special encourage- 
ment, had planted and improved, etc., and engaged in chargeable and 
bloody wars to secure their rights, etc. 

That the duke's title, if his deed had been good, fails by the statute of 
limitation, he not pursuing his title in twenty years.* 

In the midst of great and bitter trials, the last Wednesday in October 
was appointed a day of public thanksgiving throughout the colony for 
mercies bestowed in relieving, in a measure, the sore sickness which had 

* Col. Rec. Conn., III., 335. 336- 



222 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1683 

prevailed ; for sparing as much fruit as they had enjoyed ; and for con- 
tinuing their civil and religious liberties. At the same time, a day of 
prayer and fasting was ordered to be kept the last Wednesday in Novem- 
ber, with prayers for the continuation of their civil and religious liberties, 
and for the mercy of God's loving-kindness in their hour of great depres- 
sion and sorrow. 

The arrival of Dongan as governor of New York about this time, who 
laid claim to all the territory twenty miles east of the Hudson river, was 
made a cause for calling the General Assembly together on the 14th of 
November, with the hope of bringing about some satisfactory settlement, 
in regard to the boundary line between the province of New York and 
Connecticut. Deputy-governor Bishop, Major Gold, Captain John Allen, 
and William Pitkin, were appointed a committee to visit Governor Dongan, 
with instructions to extend to him the congratulations of the Assembly 
upon his arrival at New England, and his highness' territories in America. 
They were further instructed to grant Governor Dongan's claim of twenty 
miles east of the Hudson to the Mamaroneck river, and to use all amicable 
endeavors to make this river the western bounds of the colony of Con- 
necticut. At the same time the Assembly took occasion to address a 
letter to the king of England, in which they refute the charges made 
against them by Edward Randolph, as sympathizers with the conspirators 
in the late treasonable Rye-house plot, against his Majesty's person and 
kingdom. They declared that they would " make it manifest by their 
words & works, prayers & practices, that we are men of other principles ; 
& do heartily return thanks to Almighty God for the preservation of your 
Majesty's government, & do account it our duty to make supplications, 
prayers, intercessions for kings, especially your Majesty & government, & 
all in authority, that under them we may lead a quiet & peaceable life in 
all godlyness & honesty." In conclusion, they most humbly prayed the 
king for the continuation of their former privileges and liberties contained 
in his roval charter, " that our poor beginnings may prosper under your 
shadow to the glory of God, & the enlargement of your majesties 
dominions, &c." * 

Without delay Major Gold and the other members of the committee 
visited Governor Dongan, and after due deliberation brought about an 
agreement with him that the boundary line, "should begin at Byram 
river where it falleth into the Sound, at a place called Lyon's Point, f — in 

* Col. Rec. Conn., III., 136, 138. 

■f Col. Rec. Conn., III., 330. Thomas Lyon was one of the planters who removed from 
Fairfield to Greenwich, after whom Lyon's Point received its name. 



1684] THE DECADE OF THE ENGLISH REVOLUTION 223 

every place twenty miles distant from the Hudson river, between the ter- 
ritories of New York & the colony of Connecticut — to extend northward 
to the south line of the Massachusetts colony." 

At the May election Major Gold was again chosen an assistant, Jehu 
Burr and John Tyler deputies, and Jehu and John Burr commissioners. 
The Assembly, approving of the agreement between their committee and 
Governor Dongan, appointed John Banks and Jehu Burr, with Jonathan 
Selleck of Stamford, to meet Governor Dongan's committee to survey and 
lay out the boundary line between New York and Connecticut. John 
Banks and Jehu Burr, with Cornelius Hull, were appointed to measure 
out to Samuel Rogers of New London, three hundred acres of land 
granted to him at the last October Assembly. Jehu Burr and John Burr, 
with Thomas Fitch of Norwalk, were made a committee to order a planta- 
tion " above Norwalk or Fairfield," at Paquiage or Danbury, " & to receive 
inhabitants to plant there." 

Again the last Thursday in May was appointed a day of fasting and 
prayer throughout the colony. Constant complaints having reached the 
king that no law existed in the colony for the punishment of pirates, a 
letter by his order was addressed to the governor and council of Connec- 
ticut, requiring that a law, accompanying his letter, should be enforced for 
the suppression of piracy. Governor Treat called an extra session of the 
Assembly on the 5th of July, at which time the king's act was accepted, 
and all the magistrates and assistants throughout the colony were given 
authority to raise necessary forces for its enforcement. In October Jehu 
Burr was made one of a committee to audit the treasurer's account. 
Pieces of eight shillings were reduced to six, and smaller pieces in the 
same proportion. 

Special acts were passed this year by the General Court for the sup- 
pression of vice in the colony. The select-men, constables and grand jury- 
men in every plantation, were ordered "to have a special care in their 
respective places to promote the due & full attendance of the laws made 
in May 1676," under a penalty of 10^ for every neglect of the said laws." 

The evils which had crept into Fairfield, as well as many other towns 
in Connecticut, were in striking contrast to the happy state of morality 
of the early days of the settlements. Of these days one writer says: 

"Profane swearing, drunkenness, & beggars are but rare in the compass of this 
patent, through the circumspection of the magistrates, & the providence of God 
hitherto, the poor there living by their labors & great wages, proportionably, better 
than the rich, by their flocks, which, without exceeding great care, quickly waste. "f 

*Col. Rec Conn., II, 280-283. f Lechford's Plain Dealing, p. 67. 



224 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1685 

Another writer states : 

" I thank God, I have lived in a Colony of many thousand English almost these 
twelve years, & am held a very sociable man ; yet I may confidently say, I never heard 
but one oath sworn, nor never saw one man drunk — in all this time I can call to mind."* 

The Rev. Hugh Peters vv^ote in 1660 : 

" In seven years, among thousands there dwelling, I never saw any drunk, nor heard 
any oath, nor (saw) any begging, nor Sabbath broken." 

Cotton Mather states : 

" I have read a printed sermon, which was preached before both houses of parlia- 
ment, the Lord Mayor of London^ & the Assembly of Divines; the greatest audience 
in the world; & in that sermon the preacher had this passage, '/ have lived in a 
coutifry where in seven years I never saw a beggar, nor heard one oath, nor looked 
upott a dru7ikard. Shall I tell you where this Utopia was ? 'TwAS New England.'" t 

The fate of wars, increase of comforts and luxuries, a more frequent 
communication with foreign parts, and the one constant demand above all 
others of civil and ecclesiastical liberties, with the unhappy state of affairs 
in the mother country, were the causes which led so many to deviate from 
the early morality of the planters and their families. Emigrants, from 
time to time, of different thought and training, had settled in the towns 
and sown the seeds of evil and insubordination. Perhaps no town in 
Connecticut made greater efforts than Fairfield to keep these intruders 
from dwelling within its limits. 

Owing to great neglect of the public highways, a law was passed 
appointing surveyors, duly sworn to their duty, in each town, to clear the 
main highways of all " sloughs, bushes, trees & stones, & keep them in 
good repair " from Hartford to New Haven, and from New Haven through 
Fairfield to Greenwich. The town of Fairfield sustained a great loss at 
this time in the death of John Banks, who died on the 12th of December. 
For many years, as has appeared in this history, he was one of the most 
respected and useful lawyers and citizens in the colony of Connecticut. 
Few men in New England were more highly esteemed for wisdom, trust, 
and executive ability. Year after year he traveled from place to place, in 
the exercise of his official appointments. Now, after a well spent life of 
great usefulness, he was gathered, with the fathers of Connecticut, to his rest. 

The committee for running the boundary line between New York and 
Connecticut, having completed their work, made a report of the same to 
the governors of Connecticut and New York, which was accepted and 
ratified by them at Stratford, on the 23d of February. 

"^Ward's Simple Cobbler of Agawam (1647), p. 67. f Magnalia, Vol. I., B. I., p. 95. 



i685] THE DECADE OF THE ENGLISH REVOLUTION 225 

The death of Charles II., which occurred on the 6th of February, was 
immediately announced by letter to the governor of Connecticut by the 
Lords of the Council, with orders to proclaim his late Majesty's only 
brother and heir, James II., successor to the throne of England. Assur- 
ances were given that the new king had, by his most gracious proclama- 
tion, signified his royal pleasure, that all persons in ofificc at the time of 
his brother's death, should continue in the same, until his pleasure should 
be furtlicr known. On the 19th of April, this letter reached Governor 
Treat, who summoned his council to Hartford on the 22d of the month, 
when it was "ordered that his Majestic James the Second be proclaimed 
King of England, Scotland, France & Ireland, at Hartford, at two o'clock 
on the same day, & in all the other coun^f tozvns of the colony forthwith." 

A mounted herald was immediately sent from Hartford to New 
Haven, through Fairfield and Stamford, proclaiming with trumpet's warn- 
ing notes, the accession of the new king. The same day a letter of 
condolence for the loss of his brother, the late king, was addressed to King 
James, with assurances of their fidelity to the crown ; and craving from 
him the continuation of their liberties granted them by " King Charles 
the ^e(iox\di of happy memory^ 

The colonists had but little to expect from the new king; but they 
hoped by their early avowal of loyalty, to win his good will. Again at 
the May election Major Gold was made an assistant ; Jehu Burr and 
Thomas Jones deputies, and Jehu and John Burr commissioners. Nathan- 
iel Seely was commissioned lieutenant of the Fairfield train-band. John 
Burr and Josiah Harvey were made members of a committee to run 
boundary lines between Stamford and Greenwich and Stamford and Nor- 
walk. At the same time Jonathan Selleck, Jonathan Pitman and Joseph 
Judd, were made a committee to run the long disputed boundary line 
between Norwalk and Fairfield. 

Fully alive to the approaching danger of being deprived of their 
chartered privileges at almost any moment, the Assembly ordered that 
every township in the colony should take out letters patent under the 
Charter of Charles II. of the Governor and Company of Connecticut, 
which should confirm to the owners of estates and to their heirs, all 
grants of lands which had been obtained by gifts, purchase or other- 
wise, of the natives ; which patent should be sealed with the seal of 
the colony, and signed by the governor and secretary in the name of 
the Assembly, and entered upon record. It was voted that this patent, 
or a record of the same, should be sufificient evidence of its validity 
for all and every township, to all intents and purposes, for the hold- 
15 



226 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1685 

ing of the said lands firm to them, their heirs, successors and assigns 
forever. 

The magistrates of the towns hastened to comply with this order. 
Major Gold, and deputies Jehu Burr and Thomas Jones, secured a 
patent for Fairfield on the 26th of the month, of which the following 
is a true copy : 

Fairfield Patent. 

The General Court o( Connecticut have formerly granted to the proprietors of the 
inhabitants of the Town of Fairfield, all those lands both meadow & upland within these 
abutments upon the sea towards the south about seven rriiles in breadth, & in length 
from the sea into the wilderness twelve miles, & upon Stratford bounds on the east, & the 
wilderness north, & in Norwalk bounds on the west, only a parcel of land between their 
bounds & Saugatuck river, that is likewise granted to the said Fairfield, provided, the said 
Saugatuck do not exceed two miles from the bounds of the said Fairfield, the said lands, 
having been by purchase or otherwise lawfully obtained of the Indian native proprietors; 
& whereas the proprietors, the foresaid inhabitants of Fairfield, in the colony of Connecti- 
cut, have made application to the Governor & company of the said colony of Connecticut, 
assembled in court, May, 25 16S5, that they may have a patent for confirmation of the 
aforesaid land, so purchased & granted to them, as aforesaid, & which they have, 
stood, seized, & quietly possessed of for many years, last past, without interruption. Now 
for a more full confirmation of the aforesaid tract of land, as it is butted & bounded as 
aforesaid unto the present proprietors of the said Township of Fairfield in the possession 
& enjoyment of the premises, know ye that the said Governor & company assembled in 
General Court according to the commission granted to us by his IVIajestie in our charter, 
have given, granted, & by these present do give, grant, ratify & confirm unto Major 
Nathan Gold, Mr. Samuel Wakeman, Mr. Jehu Burr, Mr. John Burr, Mr. Thomas Sta- 
ples, Mr. John Green, Mr. Joseph Lockwood, Mr. John Wheeler, Mr. Richard Hubbell, 
Mr. George Squire, & Mr. Isaac Wheeler, & the rest of the present proprietors of the 
Township of Fairfield, their heirs, successors & assigns forever, according to the tenor of 
East Greenwich in Kent in free & common socage & not in capitte, nor by Knights' 
service, they to make improvements of the same, as they are ca])able according to 
the custoni of the country, yielding, rendering, & paying therefor to the Sovereign 
Lord, the King, his heirs & successors, his due, according to charter. 

In witness whereof we have cauced the seal of the colony to be hereunto affi.xed this 
26 of May, 1685, in the first year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord, James the Second of 
England, Scotland, & Ireland, King, defender of the faith, &c. 

By order of the General Court of Connecticut. 

Signed, 

Robert Treat, Gov. 
John Allen, Sec. * 

*Col. Rec. Deeds, Patents, etc. State Archives, Vol. II. The name of the governor and sec- 
retary were first subscribed to the patents of 1685, but on the 30th of May, 16S7, this mode of 
signing was changed, by adding to the Secretary's subscription, "per order of the Goven'' & 
Company of Connecticut ;" and by order of the court, all town patents were re-signed. — Col. Rec. 
Conn., III., Note, p. 177. 



i685] THE DECADE OF THE ENGLISH REVOLUTION 22/ 

A letter was addressed to King James with promises of faith and 
allegiance, humbly seeking his clemency and protection for the colony of 
Connecticut, "first planted in the days of liis royal father of happy mem- 
ory, & by the bounty & goodness of their late Sovereign." To this letter 
an answer was returned, dated June 26, in which King James assured them 
of his royal care and protection " in the preservation of their rights, & in 
the defense & security of their states," with a special request, "that the 
Governor of Connecticut signify the same to the inhabitants of the colony." 
Under the excuse for necessary repairs for the navy, he wrote that he had 
levied a tax upon all tobacco and sugar imported into England; but that 
it might not be oppressive to planters and merchants, the tax was to be 
collected only from retailers, in England, according to their lawful rates. 
These flattering assurances gave but short lived hope to the colony, and 
were made all the more despicable in their eyes, by the perfidious conduct 
of the king a few weeks later. 

Edward Randolph having pursued his resolution to undermine the 
chartered rights of Connecticut, and in fact all the English colonies in 
America, received on the 5th of May, from the Lords of the Committee of 
Trade and Foreign Plantations, a letter, requesting him to prepare a paper 
of complaints against them, which should justify writs of quo warranto 
being granted. In rcpl)', Randolph returned the following articles of mis- 
demeanor; and urged that no time should be lost in sending quo war- 
rantos. The first charge made by him against the governor and com- 
pany of Connecticut was, " that they had made laws contrary to the laws 
of England ; under which head he reports that only magistrates were 
allowed to join persons in wedlock." Second, "that they imposed fines 
upon the people, & converted them to their own use." Third, " that they 
enforced the oath of fidelity upon the people, without administering the 
oath of supremacy & allegiance to the king, as directed in their charter." 
Fourtli, " that they denied the people the exercise of the religion of the 
Church of England, arbitrarily fining those who refused to go to their con- 
gregational assemblies." Fifth, " that his majesties subjects could not 
obtain justice in the courts of Connecticut." Sixth, " that they excluded 
all gentlemen of known loyalty, in order to keep the government in their 
own hands." 

Upon the receipt of these charges in England, a quo warranto was 
issued from the council chamber on the 21st of July, confirmed by the 
'^ing, against the Governor and company of the colony of Connecticut, 
which required them to appear before the Lords, and show by what 
authority they exercised their privileges and power of government. Not 



228 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1685 

only did the ambitious Randolph petition for a quo warranto against Con- 
necticut, but also against Rhode Island, New Jersey, Delaware and Mary- 
land. Already Massachusetts was under the ban of a quo warranto 
through his influence, who, in his yearly visits to England had whispered 
in the royal ear many evil tidings against the colonies. Upon receiving 
notice that he had been thus far successful in his scheme, Randolph wrote 
to England in August, urging that the writs of quo warranto be sent out 
immediately, before winter set in, as by law one was made returnable 
before the last of September, and the other at Easter. He made bold to 
propose that a vessel should be dispatched without delay from London, 
with further commands about the writs ; and also conveying to him a com- 
mission to erect a temporary government, " & so, by that means, bring the 
several colonies in New England to a united & nearer independence to the 
crown." 

At the meeting of the October Assembly, a vote was passed authoriz- 
ing the governor or deputy-governor, with six of the assistants, to hear and 
determine all such public occasions, as might occur before the General 
Court of May, 1686. The constables of the plantations were ordered to 
collect the county taxes, settle their accounts with the colony treasurer, 
and dispose of them according to his order, before each General Court in 
May, under the lawful penalty, '^ any order to the contrary in anywise not- 
withstandingy 

One pence half penny on the pound, continued to be the colony tax; 
but any one who could pay two-thirds of his tax in Boston or in Pine-tree 
silver money, was exempt from paying the other third.* 

The year 1685 was one particularly noticeable, as the Fairfield meet- 
ing-house was this year enriched with a bell, which no doubt was a source 
of great delight alike to the aged and to the youth of the town. Many of 
those who were born in England had not probably heard the sound of a 
church bell, since the old home bells of their native towns rung out their 
last farewell. They had passed through many hardships and many sor- 
rows since those years of youth and buoyancy ; but in the mean time they 
had accomplished great things ; and as the meeting-house bell, for the first 
time, peeled out its cheering sounds, many thoughts of the old home and 

* Pine-tree money was coined by John Hull of Boston, as early as May 27, 1652. The first 
coins were XII<1 , VI'^-, and \\\^ . In 1662 a coin of II<^', was added. The pine-tree money 
formed a standard, by which circulation was made from time to time in New England. Its 
exportation was forbidden under a penalty of forfeiting all visible estate. It was against the 
royal law to coin money in America ; and England had protested against the use of the pine-tree 
money. 



i686] THE DECADE OF THE ENGLISH REVOLUTION 229 

of the new, must have passed in quick succession through the avenues of 
busy memory. Among the town records is the following note: 

"At a town meeting held April 28, 1685, it was voted, that the townsmen should settle 
Samuel Wilson's matter, about satisfying him for money the town borrowed of him to pay 
for tiie meeting-house bell." 

Until long after the Revolution it was the custom to ring this bell at 
twelve o'clock at noon, and at nine in the evening, at which time the law 
required all peace-abiding citizens to be at home. At the same town 
meeting it was also voted that, if necessary, a certain amount of lands 
should be sold to complete the payment of Mr. Timothy Hoarde, the 
school-teacher, for the year. Another event of interest this year was an 
invitation extended to the Rev. Samuel Wakeman to preach the election 
sermon before the court of election, held at Hartford on the 14th of May. 
This sermon was so highly esteemed, that Major Gold was instructed by 
the court to thank the Rev. Mr. Wakeman "for his great paynes he had 
taken in the preaching of the election sermon, & to desire him to grant a 
copy thereof, that it may be printed." A copy of this sermon, beautifully 
bound, is to be found in the State Library at Hartford. A brief extract 
from it will give an idea of the unhappy events which appear to have vis- 
ited the colony at that time. He says : 

" And how hath God done by us ? Hath He not multiplied his witnesses against us ? 
Yea of late, both summer & winter abode with us ; to the taking away of many of us ? 
And how sadly hath God of late years smitten us in all the labors of our hands, by blast- 
ing mildews, cattepillars, worms, tares, floods &; droughts ? . . He hath cut us short 
in our numbers, brought us low by taking away many, & many righteous ones from us ; 
hath He not of late years especially bereft us of many magistrates, ministers & other use- 
ful persons, & added that last sore breach, & causefuUy bitter lamented loss, our rest."* 

Robert Turney was this year confirmed captain of the Fairfield train- 
band. Meanwhile, the magistrates of Fairfield continued to purchase 
lands of the Indians, and to make good their title to them under their 
town patent. 

On the nth of February, 1685-6, the plain southeast of Golden hill, 
called Wolves* Pit Plain, which appears to have been the low land near 

* Another sermon of Mr. Wakeman's, which was preached at the funeral of John Tappan, of 
Boston, is now in the possession of Miss Mary L. Burr, of Fairfield. This sermon is entitled 
" A Young Man's Legacy to the Rising Generation," — " being a Sermon preached upon the Death. 
& at the Desire of John Tappan of Boston ; Who deceased at Fairfield the 10 of Oct., 1672, being 
in the Nineteenth year of his Age. By Samuel Wakeman pastor of the Church of Christ there." 
The texts selected for the sermon were from Eccles. vii. 2, and Eccles. xi. 9. It was printed at 
Cambridge by Marmaduke Johnson in 1673. 



230 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1686 

Greenlea, lying west of the Stratford line, was purchased of the Indians.* 
In April it was voted that as much of the plain should be sold at an 
outcry by Sergeant George Squire at the next training day, as would pay 
for the purchase of the said neck of land. It appears that Samuel Hall, 
on the 25th of November, for a certain portion of land granted him by 
the town, lent the desired amount to pay for the plain, f 

Notwithstanding the knowledge they possessed, that Randolph held a 
writ of quo warranto against the colony, the governor, deputy-governor, as- 
sistants and deputies, who had been nominated in the fall for election, met 
at Hartford on the 13th of May, and proceeded to elect Major Treat gov- 
ernor and James Bishop deputy-governor. Major Gold's name stands at 
the head of the list of assistants, and John and Jehu Burr, who had been 
nominated assistants of the General Assembly, were elected deputies and 
also commissioners for Fairfield. Lieutenants Nathaniel Seely and Cor- 
nelius Hull, were appointed to lay out for Major Gold and Jehu Burr, tracts 
of land granted them by the Assembly. Accordingly two miles square was 
staked out to Major Gold at Umpawage, and deeded to him by the Indians 
of Fairfield, Danbury and Redding, on the 27th of May. Jehu Burr shared 
his purchase of the Indians with his brother, John Burr, but did not receive 
a deed of the same until the 12th of September, 1687. 

Again the subject of the division line between Fairfield and Norwalk 
was brought before the Assembly ; but no further satisfaction was given than 
the court grant of 1650. The governor or deputy-governor, with six of the 
assistants, were again appointed to transact all legal business in case occasion 
called them together. Before the Assembly adjourned, Edward Randolph 
had arrived at Boston (May 15). On the 27th he addressed a letter to Gov- 
ernor Treat and his council, notifying them as a private gentleman that he 
held in his possession a quo warranto against the colony of Connecticut and 
also one against Rhode Island. That on the 25th instant, Joseph Dudley 
and the persons named in his Majesty's commission of government (some 
few indisposed excepted) entered upon the government of Massachusetts 
with the general consent and applause of the people ; and that nothing now 
remained, on the part of the governor and company of Connecticut, but to 
make a humble submission, and a dutiful resignation of their charter; but 
that if they attempted to defend it at law, '^ while contending for a sJiadotv^' 
they would in the first place lose all that part of Connecticut to New York ; 
that he did not wish to enter the colony "as a herald to announce war"; 
that he expected ships from London in about a month, and whatever was 
intended to be done must be accomplished before they arrived. He invited 
* Letter A, Town Deeds, Appendix No. XV. f Letter B, Town Votes, 77, 78. 



i686] THE DECADE OF THE ENGLISH REVOLUTION 23I 

the governor, deputy-governor and Major Gold to meet him at Mr. Smith's 
house in Narragansett. He closed his letter by saying, " So bless not your- 
selves with vaine expectations of advantage & spinnage out of time by 
delay " ; and adds, " I will engage, tho' the weather be warm, the writs will 
keep sound, & as good as when first lajided^ 

These threats did not intimidate or influence Governor Treat or his 
Council to resign their charter. They well knew that the time for making 
returns had passed, and that the writs were harmless before Randolph 
landed at Boston. By holding the quo warranto over them, however, Ran- 
dolph hoped to secure the surrender of their charter. "He even endeavored 
to construe the Council's acknowledgment of his letter, into a submission 
of service of the writs." 

In a letter written by Governor Treat to Governor Dongan, he stated 
that Randolph's threat of Connecticut's being made subject to the govern- 
ment of New York, did not at all prejudice them against him or his govern- 
ment ; that Randolph had informed them of a quo warranto against them, 
but as yet they had not seen it ; and that they were waiting, with silence 
and patience, what might next come upon them. Threats proved of little 
avail with the Connecticut planters. All things moved on in silence and 
patience as before, in the towns; but all felt that a crisis in their govern- 
ment was near at hand. Having purchased Wolves Pit Plain, the towns- 
men of Fairfield agreed with the Indians of Golden-hill, to sell them sufifi- 
cient land to continue the public highway across the hill, to join the main 
highway to Stratford. 

Exasperated with the coolness of the Connecticut council, Randolph 
again wrote to Governor Treat, stating that he held their letter in reply to 
his of the 27th of May to be sufficient at Whitehall to justify him, "with- 
out any further serving, or showing any authority from his Majestic at all 
about the Colony," in assuming the reins of government over them.* • On 
the 6th of July, Governor Treat summoned a special court of the assistants 
and deputies to meet at Hartford. Every town in the colony was repre- 
sented. Nathan Gold and John Burr were present from Fairfield. It was 
voted to address the king, without delay, petitioning for a continuation of 
their chartered privileges. A letter was prepared, supplicating the king 
to pardon the mistakes and failures they had made in their government, 
which, " upon the first intimation, they were ready to reform, under the 
royal grant of his late Majestic, of happy memory, Charles the Second ; " 
their mistakes having arisen more " from want of right understanding in 
law, than otherwise." 

* Col. Rec. Conn., III., 355. Documents Relating to the Col. Hist, of New York, Vol. HI., 386. 



232 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1686 

On the 2 1 St of July a messenger from Randolph arrived at Hartford, 
who delivered to Major Talcott and Secretary Allen, the two writs of 
quo warranto. The first was made returnable at the Michaelmas term of 
1685, within eight days of St. Martin's ; and the second within fifteen days 
after Easter. Accompanying the writs was a letter dated October 6. 1685, 
from the king's attorney-general to tlie sheriff of London, ordering the 
governor and company of Connecticut to appear before the judges of the 
king's bench within fifteen days after Easter, " to answer by what war- 
rants they used their liberties, privileges & franchise." 

Again Governor Treat summoned the Assembly to meet at Hartford 
on the 28th of July. Two days before he had received a private letter 
from Governor Dudley, urging the importance of the annexation of Con- 
necticut and Rhode Island to Massachusetts, rather than the province of 
New York. A letter conveying power of attorney to William Whiting, of 
London (brother of Secretary William Whiting, of Hartford), was exe- 
cuted by the governor and council on the 24th of August, with instruc- 
tions to present their petition to the king to appear before the judges of 
the king's bench in a just defense of their charter; and if absolutely nec- 
essary, " to accept & submit to such regulations as his majesty might 
think fit to order." A second letter of petition w^s addressed to the 
king, showing that they had not received the quo warranto in time to 
appear before him, praying him for the full bounds of their chartered 
liberties, assigned by his Majesty's commissioners. Colonel Nichols and 
his associates, and setting further before him the grievous wrong to the 
planters ; the disputes which would arise if placed under the government 
of another colony in regard to their former privileges and estates ; and 
humbly begging that their estates and religious liberties might be con- 
tinued to them. An extra tax of a half-penny upon the pound was raised 
to defray the expenses of sending an agent to England, etc. 

Meanwhile, Major Gold was made the bearer of a letter from Governor 
Treat to Governor Dongan, counseling with him as to the best way to 
secure the king's favor: 

"Aware of the advantage to be gained by the annexation of Connecticut to New 
York, Governor Dongan gave every encouragement of assistance to Governor Treat. In 
his report of the state of the Province of New York to the Lord's Committee in 16S6, he 
assured them, that it would be impossible ' to make anything considerable of his Majes- 
ties customes & revenue ' without Connecticut & East & West Jersey : ' & that Sir 
Edmund Andros was so well convinced of this, that he sent Capt. Salisbury to England 
in 1676, to let his royal hyness, now his Majesty, know how impossible it was for this 
Government to subsist without the addition of Connecticut.' " 



i687] THE DECADE OF THE ENGLISH REVOLUTION 233 

But little business was transacted at the October Assembly, save the 
reduction of the colony tax to one penny on the pound ; and appointing 
the last Wednesday in the month a day of public thanksgiving. On the 
20th of December Sir Edmund Andros arrived in Boston ; and on the same 
day published his commission, dated June 3, 1686, as ''Captain General 
& Governor in Chief, in & over the Colonies of Massachusetts Bay & New 
Plymouth, the Province of New Hampshire & Maine, & the Narragansett 
County or Kings Province." On the 22d, he dispatched a messenger to 
the governors of Rhode Island and Connecticut, with letters informing 
them, that he was authorized by the king to receive the surrender of 
their charters (" if tendered by you "). The same day Governor Treat 
received a letter from Randolph, urging him to annex Connecticut to 
the government of Andros;* and also notifying him, that a third quo 
warranto had been issued against Connecticut. The time being short for 
them to appear in England, he advised them to appear before Governor 
Andros. On the 28th Governor Treat received a letter from the under- 
sheriff of London, inclosing the third writ of quo warranto, dated on the 
23d of October following, and made returnable at the Hilary Term, within 
eight days of the Purification of the Virgin Mary (Feb. 9, 1687). 

Governor Treat lost no time in summoning a special General Court at 
Hartford on the 26th of January. John Burr was present from Fairfield. 
Whatever was necessary to be done in the emergency was left to the 
governor and council. All bills owing the colony were ordered to be 
paid into the treasury; if any money remained over after the public debts 
were paid, it was to be divided among the counties. Grants of lands were 
confirmed to towns and individuals. Lieutenants Morehouse and Seely, of 
Fairfield, were appointed to apportion to Lieutenant Cornelius Hull his 
grant of land, according to the former order of the Assembly. The inhabit- 
ants of Stratford were ordered to lay out a cart and horse highway from 
Stratford to Pequonnock, for a country road as speedily as possible ; and 
if they failed to accomplish it as soon as specified. Major Gold, John Beard 
and Captain Samuel Eales were authorized to lay it out. An extra farth- 
ing on the pound was added to the county tax, which in May, having been 

* Andros was so eager to annex Connecticut to Massachusetts, that in March, 1687, he wrote to 
the Commissioners of Trade and the Earl of Sunderland, " that without them, we are neither able 
to defray our public charges, nor our fishery be maintained without provisions, & particularly 
wheat from thence." That the people of Massachusetts having sustained great losses were "gen- 
erally poor; " & that " their fishing & lumber their chiefest trade & support, & that wholly supplied 
by Connecticut, from whence all their wheat & much other grain & provisions, & without it can- 
not maintain their fishery & trade." 



234 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1687 

reduced to one penny, was found insufficient to meet the debts of the 
colony, and tliC expenses of presenting their cause in England. 

Governor Treat addressed a letter to the Earl of Sunderland, then the 
British Secretary of State, informing him that the General Court of Con- 
necticut had sent several addresses to the king ; explaining that the two 
quo warrantos were served upon them after the time set for their appear- 
ance in England ; and the last one came too late in the winter for them to 
make returns; that they had appointed Mr. William Whiting their attor- 
ney, to present their address to the king, that they " might not be pro- 
ceeded against as outlaws," and be obliged to forfeit their liberties and 
privileges. He assured the secretary " that the planters of Connecticut 
were his Majesty's royal subjects, heartily desiring to continue in the same 
stations they had occupied, but, if his Majesty had otherwise disposed of 
them, they should feel it their duty to submit to his ro3'al command ; and 
if they were to be joined to the other colonies and provinces, under Sir 
Edmund Andros, it v/ould be more pleasant for them than with any other 
of the provinces." * 

The same day the Assembly met, Governor Andros addressed another 
letter to Governor Treat and the council, demanding the surrender of their 
charter, to which he received in reply so little satisfaction, that he wrote 
again on the 28th of February, informing them that all the other New 
England colonies had surrendered their charters but Connecticut, which still 
remained " obstinate & adverse to his Majestie's service," thereby 
hazarding the advantages they might otherwise gain. Captain Nicholson, 
who had accompanied Andros from England to Boston, was made the 
bearer of this letter to Connecticut. The construction put upon this 
letter by the celebrated Chalmers was, that it showed, " not only the art 
of that body, but ^/w sligJit ground on luhich that paper zvas constrned to con- 
tain a surrender of their charter.'' Again a special General Court was con- 
vened at Hartford on the 30th of March; and on the same day Captain 
Nicholson was made the bearer of a brief reply to Andros' letter, in which 
the Governor and company of Connecticut return their hearty thanks to 
him for his love and care for them ; " but without desiring to give offense, 
having submitted to be guided & disposed of by his majesty, & not yet 
having received any reply directly from him," they begged leave to request 
"that a good & an amicable correspondence might be continued between 
him & their colony, until his majestie's pleasure should be made known." 
. . . " And thoi, zvlien we are commanded by. his Majestic to surender our- 
selves to your excellencies government, & to be united to our neighbors in 

* Col. Rec. Conn., III., 377-37S. 



,687] THE DECADE OF THE ENGLISH REVOLUTION 235 

government, ive shall be as loyall & dutifull as any we hope, & as readily 
submit ourselves to your excelle7tey." 

Unmoved by any threat or art of persuasion from Andros, the Con- 
necticut planters had their annual election in May. Governor Treat was 
re-elected and also Deputy-governor James Bishop. Major Gold's name 
stands at the head of the assistants. John Wheeler and John Burr were 
chosen deputies, and Jehu and John Burr commissioners for Fairfield,* 

It was a time of great distress, doubt and perplexity to know how to 
act, or upon whom to rely. Not a few of the leading men were strongly 
in favor of an English governor. Among the latter were Edward Palmes, 
of New London, William Rosewell, of Brandford, and the learned Rev. 
Gershom Bulklcy, of Wethersfield. The latter afterwards distinguished 
himself by writing a history of the miseries of Connecticut, by and under 
an "Usurped & Arbitrary Power," which he entitled "Will and Doom."f 
Many of the ablest and wisest men in the colony feared that Andros' threats 
would be carried out, and their estates would be confiscated. All eagerly 
looked for some reply to the petition of the General Assembly to the king, 
in whose weak, vacillating will they had but little confidence. It was a 
terrible crisis for the brave forefathers of Connecticut ; which they awaited 
with the patience and fortitude of heroes. 

Mr. Whiting made every effort to sustain the cause in England ; but 
thus far with little avail. Again the affairs of the colony were left in the 
hands of the governor or deputy-governor, and any six of the assistants 
until the October term. The last Wednesday in May was appointed a day of 
public fasting and prayer. Little business occupied the court at this crisis of 
doubt, consternation and gloom. A few matters relating to Fairfield were 
brought forward. Major Gold petitioned the Assembly that a neck of land in 
the west part of Danbury, adjoining the land laid out to him at Umpewage, 
should be added to his former grant, which petition was granted, provided 
the land did not exceed five hundred acres. To this one hundred more acres 
were added a few days after. ;{: Simon Couch, of Bankside, petitioned that 

* The names of John Wheeler and John Burr are not recorded in the May list of deputies, hut 
may be found in the October list marked absent. — Col. Rec. of Conn., III., 239. 

•f- The Rev. Gershom Bulkley was never admitted a freeman of the Connecticut colony, and the 
commission he received from Andros was made null and void by the revolution. He is described 
as having been "overweening', self-important, obstinate in adherence to his opinions or prejudices, 
a litigious spirit, and the peculiarities of his political creed detracted from his usefulness, and 
kept him almost continually at strife with his neighbors or with the government of the colony." 
—Col. Rec. of Conn., III., 389. 

X Col. Rec. of Conn., HI., 231-235. A patent of this land was granted Major Gold, May 20, 
1687. Col. Rec. Deeds, &c., II., 182. 



236 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1687 

his right in the land of his father-in-law, Francis Andrews, at or near 
Bankside, be granted him, according to the agreement made at the time of 
union between Fairfield and the Bankside planters. The court granted 
his petition, and ordered that Mr. John Burr and the selectmen of the 
town should, forthwith set out to each planter of Bankside his proportion 
of land, by virtue of their agreement with the town of Fairfield in 1666. 
Among the town votes of January 9th, of this year, is the following : " For 
good considerations moving y", y^ town orders one acre & a half of land near 
y^ east farms, for any of y* inhabitants to bury their dead in, as occasion shall 
be." John Burr, of Fairfield, and Lieutenant Mathew Sherwood, of 
Pequonnock, were appointed to lay it out. This burial place, has ever 
since been known as the old Strat field or Pequonnock grave yard. It is 
situated on the king's highway, but a short distance north of Mountain 
Grove cemetery, adjoining the military green of the early settlement. 

Again the disputed boundary line between Norwalk and Fairfield was 
brought forvv'ard. The court decided that a white oak tree, east of the 
deceased Daniel Frost's house at Bankside, was the early west bounds of 
Fairfield, and that a just mile west of the said white oak tree should be 
their west or head line, to run up to the Stamford path, and then north- 
ward according to the former grant of the court : " & the tozvn of Fairfield 
is to have all the lands southward of this line from Standford path east of 
Saugatuck river.'' Two hundred acres of land were granted to John 
Burr. "" Lieutenants Samuel Morehouse and Nathaniel Ssely were 
appointed to lay out this grant ; and also one hundred acres to John Bell 
of Stamford, f In order to avoid having their timber lands impoverished 
by Andros, a law was passed, that no more timber should be sent out of 
the colony without a license from the towns in which it was cut, under 
a penalty of forfeiting said timber. The captains of the vessels were 
forbidden to receive it without a license, under a penalty of forty shillings 
for every breach of this law. Tanners were also forbidden to cut down 
trees for bark, without a license from the towns in which they lived, 
under a penalty of five shillings for every barked tree. 

From the following vote, it is clearly to be seen that the politic course 
pursued by Major Gold and the town deputies, in agreeing to yield to the 

*" Laid out with other grants to Jehue & John Burr, April 1693, within a tract of two square 
miles, purchased by them of the Indian proprietors upon the Wemesheage (VVemesseage) brook ; & 
patented to Daniel & Samuel Burr May 1717." — Col. Rec. of Deeds, &c., III., 229-233. 

f " This grant to Lieut. Jonathan Bell of Stamford, was assigned, by his sons, Jonathan, Abra- 
ham & John, April 17 12 to John Edwards & Samuel Couch of Fairfield, — to whom it was laid out, 
on the west side of Capt. Osborn's ridge," between Fairfield and Danbury, and patented, Oct., 
1716. 



r68;] THE DECADE OF THE ENGLISH REVOLUTION 237 

kinj^'s commands to resign their charter if absolute necessity required, and 
to be annexed to New York, was made a matter of grave offense : 

" The town of Fairfield do liereby at a town meetint; held this day, being y« 23. of May 
1687, do withdraw ye power given unto Major Nathan Gold, Mr. Jehu Burr & Lieut. John 
Banks in reference to their defending sd. Fairfield's title to ye land within ye town bounds 
against any, they not being inhabitants 0/ ye town; & do thereby discharge them 
from ye sd. power & trust given or committed to sd. Nathan Gold, Jehu & John, by an 
order of said Fairfield of May 16S3."* 

The receipt of a letter from William Whiting of London, caused Gov- 
ernor Treat to summon a General Court, to be held at Hartford on the 
15th of June. Neither Major Gold's, John Wheeler's, nor John Burr's 
name appears on the list of those present. Mr. Whiting's letter was 
laid before the Assembly. He had given the letter addressed by the 
Assembly to Lord Sunderland immediately after its reception, the con- 
tents of which were by his lordship communicated to the Lords of the 
Committee for Foreign Plantations, and by them to his Majesty ; but he 
had not learned of his decision. Sir Edmund Andros not yet having made 
any return of the Connecticut quo warrantos, which it was expected he 
would do by the next ship from New England. Mr. Whiting assured the 
Assembly he had taken care that he should be notified if any process was 
made ; but it was his opinion that their case would be lost, as the court 
was at Windsor, and but little could be known of what proceedings were 
taking place there. 

With great opposition on the part of many in the colony, the Assembly 
did not consider themselves able to raise money to send an agent to Eng- 
land, which Mr. Whiting had recommended them to do ; but having full 
confidence in his ability, ordered that he should be notified by letter in the 
name of the governor, deputy-governor and assistants of their gratitude 
for his past services in their behalf, and request him to continue to defend 
their interests. A reasonable satisfaction was voted for his services. Sev- 
eral of the Assembly requested to see the Charter of Connecticut. Secre- 
tary Allyn sent for it, and exhibited it to those present ; "& the governor 
bid him put it into the box again, & lay it upon the table, & leave the 
key in the box, which he did forthwith." This remarkable entry in the 
colony records, gives an impression that some* of the members of the court 
questioned whether the charter had not already been given up, but the 
singular order of Governor Treat gives a clue to the surmise that some 
scheme was on foot for its preservation, even if it was " left on the table 
with the key in the box." 

* Fairfield Letter B, Town Votes, p. 79. 



238 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [16S7 

Mr. Whiting reported through Secretary Allyn, by a letter dated June 
14th, that thus far no information had at that date been filed in the court 
against them, although, on the nth instant a rule was passed, that they 
should appear on the following day (being the last day of that term of 
court) for judgment against them. On the 14th of August he wrote, that 
on the day set for their appearance, he gave a warrant of attorney to one 
of the clerks of the crown of^ce to appear in their behalf, which he 
signified to his Majesty's of^cer of the court, "but no information either 
then or since having been given against the colony, the case stood as 
it did." Again, on the 21st of September he wrote, that as yet no infor- 
mation had been given against them ; but urged that money should be 
immediately sent out to defend their charter, as the forty pounds already 
sent him was well nigh exhausted. The General Assembly met, as usual, 
on the 13th of October. Major Gold, and John Burr did not appear, having 
been stripped of their offices by their fellow-townsmen ; and they evi- 
dently were not willing to seem to oppose the demands of the quo war- 
rantos. 

A petition was presented to the Assembly by Samuel Hayes of Nor- 
walk, in behalf of Thomas Fitch, Thomas Bennydick, and John and Jehu 
Burr, representing that as Pequiage contained twenty families, and others 
were expected soon to settle there, it should be constituted a town, 
and named Svvamfield ; but the court gave it the name of Danbury.* 
The Assembly proceeded in its regular routine of business until about 
the last of October, when it was speedily interrupted by the appearance 
of Governor Andros among them, with his suit and sixty regular troops. 
His coming was not unexpected, as he had notified Governor Treat on the 
22d, that having recently received orders from his Majesty to annex Con- 
necticut to his government, he should either send or come himself to 
Hartford by the end of the following week.f 

A literal construction had been placed upon the letter of the Assembly, 

* Probably named after a village in Essex, five miles from Chelmsford. — Col. Rec. of Conn., 
III., 240. 

fCoI. Rec. cf Conn., III., 387. — Gershom Bulkley in his " Will & Doom" describes 
Andros's journey to Hartford as one of triumph, having been conducted through the town with the 
respect and welcome congratulations of the populace. That he was conducted from the Rocky 
Hill ferry through Wethersfield to Hartford by the Hartford county troops, where the train bands 
of several towns, aware of his coming, had united to pay him welcome. That he was received 
with courtesy by Governor Treat and the assistants and deputies of the court, and conducted to 
the governor's chair, with the honor due to his office. 

All this may have been true ; but it was a time when the magistrates of Connecticut united 
political tact with wisdom and courtesy. The wisdom of submission with them "became the 
better part of valor," To appear " as wise as serpents & as harmless as doves," was fully exemplified. 



,687] THE DECADE OF THE ENGLISH REVOLUTION 239 

addressed to the Earl of Sunderland on the 26th of January, that in case 
his Majesty should not see fit to continue Connecticut a separate colony, 
but join it with the other colonies and provinces under Sir Edmund An- 
dros, " it would be more pleasant than to be joined with any other prov- 
ince." As soon as the letter was received at Whitehall, " the King readily 
granted their request of being annexed to the BayT and at the very moment, 
when they hoped some check would be given to the intrigues of Andros 
and Randolph, through the timely interference of their agent William 
Whiting, their own words were turned against them, and construed into 
" resignation of their charter by their own act.'' " The king pursued his 
quo warranto no farther, but commissioned Andros to take upon him the 
government of Connecticut. 

It was no doubt an hour of great triumph, when Andros found himself 
governor of a colony he had so many years endeavored to control ; and 
with its annexation- to the other colonies, he had reason to dream of 
almost unlimited wealth and power. Standing in the midst of the Assem- 
bly, surrounded by hi^ suit, he demanded of Governor Treat the sur- 
render of the charter of Connecticut, and pronounced the government to 
be dissolved. 

According to tradition, Governor Treat, in a most eloquent manner, 
plead the cause of the Connecticut planters, in defense of their charter 
and the privileges it conveyed to them. He reminded Andros of the 
hardships they had endured in planting the colony ; of the expense they 
had incurred in purchasing their patent and their lands of the natives; of 
the blood and pecuniary losses they had sustained in subduing both for- 
eign and savage foes ; of his own personal exposure; " & that it was like 
giving up his life, now to surrender the patent & privileges so dearly 
bought & so long enjoyed." 

As the day waned and evening approached, the court room v/as filled 
with men resolved upon almost any daring deed. Outside were stationed 
the troops of Andros, and a multitude of eager, earnest men and women 
awaited the issue of the debate within. The night closed in upon the 
crowded listeners, and the candles were lighted upon the council table, 
revealing such firmness of expression upon the furrowed, weather-beaten 
faces of the veteran forefathers of Connecticut, as must have daunted any 
one capable of appreciating the feelings of heroes and patriots under this 
terrible ordeal. 

Unmoved, Andros awaited the surrender of the charter, which was most 
reluctantly brought in and laid upon the table before him and the assem- 

* Gershom Bulkley's Will and Doom. 



240 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1687 

bled spectators. In an instant the candles were extinguished ; but all was 
orderly and silent in the house for some minutes. When the candles were 
relighted, it was discovered that the coveted charter was gone, and no 
one present could tell who had spirited it away. The mem.orable charter 
of King Charles of Jiappy vicmory, however, found a safer place for its 
preservation, without lock or key, in the capacious hollow of the grand 
old Charter Oak of Hartford.* 

The next morning Andros assumed the control of the government of 
the colony. The record of this epoch in the history of Connecticut is 
preserved by Secretary John Allyn in the following few words : 

"His Excellency Sr. Edmond Andross Kn', Capt. Generall & Gov'' of his Ma"" Terito- 
rie & Dominion in New England, by order from his Ma''« James the Second, King of 
England, Scotland, France & Ireland, the 31 of October, 1687, took into his hands the 
Government of this colony of Conecticott, it being by his Ma''« annexed to the Massachu- 
setts & other colonys under his Excelencies Government. FINIS." f 

Occupying the Governor's chair, Andros ordered his commission from 
the king to be read. He informed Governor Treat and Secretary John 
Allyn, it was his Majesty's pleasure that they should be members of his 
council, and called upon them to take the oath of allegiance, which was 
administered before him. He then proceeded to organize courts of judi- 
cature in the several counties, making those who had occupied the offices 
of governor, deputy-governor and assistants, judges of the court of com.- 
mon pleas or justices of the peace. He appointed sheriffs and constables 
in the several counties, and caused all the officers under him to take the 
oath of allegiance, after the laws and customs of England. On the 7th of 
November he commissioned Governor Treat colonel of the militia and 
captain of the cavalry of the county of New Haven. 

Governor Joseph Dudley, of New York, was appointed chief justice of 
New England, and William Stoughton and Peter Bulkley associate judges. 
George Farewell, of New York, was made attorney-general, and John 
West, of Boston, secretary. Gershom Bulkley was made a justice of the 
peace. Major Gold was made a judge of the common pleas for the county 
of Fairfield. John Perry, of Fairfield, was appointed postman between 

* Captain Wadsworth having seized the charter, secreted it in the hollow of an oak tree in front 
of the house of the Hon. Samuel Willyis, of Hartford, which from this circumstance was called 
the Charter Oak. 

fCol. Rec. of Conn .Vol. HI., 248. The common seal of the colony was delivered up to 
Andros by Secretary Allyn, who afterward used the great seal, which had been appointed for his 
administration, and which bore the remarkable motto, numquam libertas gratias extat. 



j5S7] the decade OF THE ENGLISH REVOLUTION 24I 

Boston, Fairfield and Stamford, to carry the mail once a month in the 
winter, and every three weeks in the summer, or oftener if required. 

In the month of November, 1687, Governor Andros, who had formally 
taken possession of the government of the colony, appointed Thursday, 
the 1st of December, "to be a public day of praise & thanksgiving to 
Almighty God " throughout New England, with inclosed orders for the 
same, and the king's " Declaration for Liberty of Conscience " (April, 
1687), to all. Andros had not only proclaimed himself a member of the 
Church of England, but had at once, upon his assuming the duties of a 
governor over the colonies, made preparations to erect a church in Boston, 
to carry out the provisions of the Book of Common Prayer. The church 
he erected was called the King's Chapel, and is to the present day one of 
the chief noticeable landmarks of that city. 

From this date Episcopacy may be said to have had its rise in New 
England, although it was bitterly opposed in all the New England colo- 
nies ; and while many efforts before this and afterwards were made by 
individuals to worship according to the dictates of their own consciences, 
it was not until the eighteenth century opened that any successful attempt 
was made to hold the services of the Church of England in Fairfield and 
the neighboring towns. 

At the same time Andros published an act for enforcing the former 
laws made by the governor and council of Connecticut, with other regula- 
tions. He also ordered that the semi-annual general courts should be 
held, one at New Haven and the other at Hartford ; and that the magis- 
trates of New Hampshire should attend the latter. The quarterly courts 
for the county of Fairfield were appointed to be held at Fairfield on the 
third Wednesday in March, June, September and December, and the 
inferior court of pleas, soon after the regular county courts had ended. The 
superior court for the counties of Fairfield and Ncw^ Haven was to be 
held at New Haven twice every year, and their sherifTs were ordered to 
send their deputies or under-sheriffs to attend such courts, whose duty was 
to make return of writs, to summon a jury or juries for cases pending. 
The former restriction of limiting the inferior courts of common pleas of 
the counties to cases under forty pounds with costs, was removed ; and it 
was made legal for them to decide " all causes & cases wherein titles of 
lands were not concerned, to any sum or value ; with liberty of appeal to 
the superior courts by a writ of habeas corpus, to be issued under a 
special bail, out of the clerk's office of the superior court." Justices of the 
peace were allowed to decide all cases under forty shillings. A court of 
chancery was also instituted, subject to the laws of England. The pro- 
16 



242 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1687 

bating of wills was from henceforth to be granted only by the governor, or 
such persons as he commissioned for that purpose, after being proved in 
the remote counties from Boston in the court of common pleas, and certi- 
fied at the secretary's office at Boston. Fifty shillings was exacted for 
each will probated. All males over sixteen years of age, except his 
Majesty's council, owning houses, cultivated and broken lands, or other 
property, " at sea or on shore," were taxed at the rate of one shilling eight 
pence a head for the county tax ; and all estates, both real and per- 
sonal, at the rate of one penny for every twenty shillings. For regulating 
taxes a certain value was placed upon horses and all kinds of cattle, sheep, 
hogs, grain, etc. Fish, sheep's wool, cotton wool and salt, were alone 
exempt. Workmen, tradesmen, laborers, and in fact all classes and con- 
ditions of men, were taxed. Paid servants were taxed, and masters of 
families were taxed for unpaid servants. Those not able to meet these 
demands were ordered sent to the common jail until their case could be 
laid before the next court of sessions. Even strangers, and vessels coming 
into port were rated. All kinds of foreign and domestic liquor, wine, ale, 
and cider were heavily taxed. Peddlers were forbidden to sell goods from 
town to town under a penalty of ten pounds, and be sent from constable to 
constable until they reached the town to which they belonged. The elder 
brother of a family, according to the custom in England, was made the 
chief heir in line of descent, and also heir of the entire estate of a deceased 
brother to the exclusion of younger brothers. An act for the suppression 
of piracy was made. The ratification of marriage was restricted to civil 
magistrates, and bonds, and sureties exacted by the governor. The usual 
town tax for the support of ministers was abolished, and no one allowed 
to give " even two pence to a non-conformist, under threats of punish- 
ment ; & if this law was not complied with they were informed that 
their meeting houses should be taken from them." * Printing presses . 
were forbidden, except by special license. 

Fairfield and the towns in the western part of Connecticut experienced 
serious alarm at this time, lest a rupture with the French Canadians should 
involve them in another Indian war. The French had threatened to 
attack the Iroquois Indians, and a party of Mohicans and Mohawks exas- 
perated against them attacked Fort Chambly and killed several men, 
burned houses, and carried away a large number of prisoners. Governor li 
Dongan called upon Andros to assist in the defense of Albany. Andros ■ 
immediately ordered two hundred foot soldiers and fifty troopers to be 
raised out of the western part of Connecticut, and dispatched to Albany i 

* Trumbull's Hist, of Conn., i, 392. 



i68S] THE DECADE OF THE ENGLISH REVOLUTION 243 

by the end of April. The officers were to be provided with money to 
defray the expenses of the expedition. 

Governor Talcott waived the effort to raise cither troops or money for 
the time being; but in a most gracious manner suggested that it might be 
a good expedient for him to send advice to Governor Dongan, to move 
the French general to a cessation of arms, and so gain a truce of eight or 
nine months, while dispatches were sent to England and France for their 
decision; that their subjects in America might not be plunged in a cruel 
war at the cost of devastated plantations, the effusion of much Christian 
blood, and the country brought into poverty, as in the late Indian war, 
" for the S-ike of a beaver trade, to be upheld by the point of the sword, 
for the enriching of a few mercenary spirited men." Governor Dongan 
acted upon this suggestion, and by his eloquent appeal to King James, a 
treaty of neutrality was established with France, by which it Avas agreed 
that all their colonies in America should remain neutral and at peace with 
each other, even if a breach existed between the two kingdoms. Intent 
on securing lands to their lawful owners and successors, the following vote 
was passed at Fairfield : 

" Novemb'^ i^' 1687. Ye town of Fairfield this day voted y' those of y^ Town y' did 
divide pasture, building & the Long Lots, Shall be, and be deemed to be w"" y' heirs & 
lawful! Successors, and those y' Shall Come in lawfull power in stead of them, or any of 
them, Shall be forever y* proprietors of all y^ Comons of Fairfield ; y' is of y« two half 
miles of Comon, and y mile of comon, & all other Lands lying in v« Comon, if any w* 
ever, according to y' rule : S? pasture & building & long lots were divided, & S^ Com- 
mons are hereby granted to, and confirmed on them as above forever, w"* others, namely, 
those y Indifferent men Shall determine to have Satisfaction for Some Divisions, they Say 
they ought to have, but have it not, and w' Liberty of removing: those shall have y' live 
in y' Town y' have none, and cannot otherwise claim any as y"" right, & any other dissatis- 
fied persons in Fairfield on a Land account ; & those persons shall have so much, as 
those persons Indifferently chose by y"= Town ; & y= said persons shall determine them, or 
any of them to have ; which determination Shall stand good and be fullfilled by y« Town." 

Jehu Burr, Robert Turney and John Thompson were appointed to 
hear and determine the cases of all dissatisfied persons in lands or com- 
mons. 

Major Gold and Jehu Burr having taken the oath of allegiance, and 
been selected among the official appointments of Governor Andros, 
were, at a town meeting on the 9th of Januarj', reinstated as inhabitants 
of the town, and with John Burr, employed to defend the lands belonging 
to the freeholders in a lawful way. In the month of March Governor 
Andros issued further oppressive laws. He appointed an annual town 



244 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1688 

meeting on the third Monday in May, for the planters to choose and nomi- 
nate select men or overseers, not to exceed eight in number, one half of 
whom were to be chosen out of those who had served the year previous. 
They were also to nominate commissioners. The duty of the select men, 
with the assistance of two justices of the peace, was to number the poor 
of the town, to levy a tax for their maintenance, and to meet once a month 
to consider the best way to provide for their industry and care. All town 
meetings but the annual one for choosing and nominating town officers, 
were strictly forbidden. If any one appointed a constable, refused to act 
or take the oath of allegiance, he was fined five pounds. Strict military 
regulations were set on foot. Once every year each captain or lieutenant 
was required to send " a fair written roll of their respective companies and 
regiments," or be court-martialed. The use of fire-arms was forbidden 
after eight o'clock in the evening, unless in case of alarm, under severe 
punishment. In case of alarm four muskets or small arms were to be dis- 
tinctly fired, or one cannon and two muskets or small arms, and by beat- 
ing a drum, when every soldier was obliged to be armed and at his post, 
or be fined five pounds. Officers of vessels were also forbidden to fire 
salutes upon entering any of the ports. 

Notwithstanding the new laws in regard to town m'eetings, on the 6th 
of April the town ordered that Pauls neck, the reedy ponds and swamp 
lying west of it, and the Half Mile of common, lying between the Build- 
ing Lots " so called, long since laid out ; " and two miles and a half in 
length of the Mile of common, should be forthwith laid out to the lawful 
dividers. If any others were admitted to this dividend, one lot was to be 
drawn for all said divisions, to begin on each division until the whole was 
finished. Isaac Hall not having been allowed his claim in the previous 
dividends, the town readily granted him the same, and appointed a com- 
mittee to lay out to him his just dividends. John and Jonathan More- 
house, John Whitlock, David Whitlock, James Newton, Henry Grey and 
Thomas Dickinson, were allowed an interest in these lands at the rate of 
twenty pounds estate. 

Golden-hill having been claimed by the Stratford planters, who were 
over-eager to dispossess the Indians of this reservation, without adhering 
to the agreement made with Fairfield of May 19, 1659, application for 
redress was made at this time by the Indian owners to Governor Andros. 
Major Treat was appointed to look into the matter and report the true 
state of the claims of the English and Indians. On the 23d of May, he 
reported to Andros, that the Stratford men were not to claim any of the 
grant secured to the Golden-hill Indians, unless the said Indians vacated 



i688] THE DECADE OF THE ENGLISH REVOLUTION 245 

their reservation of their own free will; in which case, the Stratford 
planters were to own the said reservation, upon paying the sum of twenty 
pounds to the Fairfield planters, " partly in line of their first title, & 
partly estimated to Stratford, & the care Fairfield had taken, in looking 
after the said Indians." 

The ambition of Andros reached its most sanguine expectations when, 
on the 7th of April, he was commissioned by King James, governor of 
New England, New York, East and West Jersey, and all the English 
territories between 40° north latitude to the river St. Croix, Pennsyl- 
vania and Delaware only excepted.* The king hoped by thus uniting 
all his English subjects under one governor, " to make them a toivcr of 
iron.''' 

The annexation of Connecticut to the colonies under Andros in New 
England, was a keen disappointment to Governor Dongan, who vented 
his mortification upon Governor Treat and Secretary Allyn. He wrote to 
the Earl of Sunderland, that the annexation of Connecticut, was " by ye 
fraud of the Governor & ye clerk unknown to the rest of the General 
Court." ...*'& for one that wishes it as it is, there is a hundred in 
that Colony, that desyres it were annexed to )'e Government of New 
York." But the advancement of Andros over him as governor of New- 
York he felt to be a bitter injustice; and although offered the command 
of a regiment, with the title major-general of artillery in the British army, 
he refused to accept it, quietly retiring to his farm, to await further devel- 
opments in the government of the fickle king of England. 

It was well known that the nobility of England were displeased with 
the oppressions, both civil and ecclesiastical, laid upon them by King 
James; and that in order to protect their rights, they were making secret 
overtures to William of Orange, who had married the king's daughter, 
Mary, to assume the reins of government. King James, at this time, was 
well advanced in years, and the people were weary of his tyrannical and 
oppressive course. He was without a son to succeed him, but the queen 
was happily expected soon to bear him another child. So eager were the 
king and queen, and the zealous Catholics of England and France, that 
this child should be a son, that " Vows were offered at almost every shrine 
for a male successor, & pilgrimages undertaken." f On the 19th of April, 
Governor Andros sent a proclamation from the king to Connecticut 
appointing a time of public thanksgiving and prayers for the queen; and 
ordering that it should be speedily made known and published in the 

* Documents Relating to the Hist, of New York, III., 537-549 
j- Hume's Hist. Eng. 



246 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1688 

counties of Hartford, New Haven, and Fairfield, that it might be duly 
observed and performed.* 

With his enlargement of government, Andros waxed bold in oppress- 
ing the people. He declared that as the charters were either vacated or 
suspended, the title of the colonists to their lands were null and void ; and 
that the Indian deeds were of no more value than " a scratch of a bear's 
paw." The purchasers and cultivators of the soil, after fifty or sixty years' 
improvement, were obliged to take out new patents for their estates. For 
these, in some instances, a fee of fifty pounds was demanded. Writs of 
intrusion were issued against persons of prominence " who would not sub- 
mit to such impositions, & their lands were patented to others." . . . 
" Men were fined & imprisoned, & denied the benefit of the habeas corpus 
act. No person was suffered to go out of the country without leave from 
the Governor, lest complaint be carried to England against his administra- 
tion." ..." Confident of the King's favor, Andros & his dependents 
enriched themselves without restraint. Petitions of the most humble 
character could not be heard. Randolph boasted that they were as arbi- 
trary as the Great Turk." Massachusetts and Plymouth shared alike in 
the special oppression of Andros and his emissaries ; but Connecticut, 
being further removed from his seat of government, did not suffer as much 
as her two sister colonies. 

Governor Treat and the other members of the council, while attentive 
to Andros' regulations, managed to carry on affairs in the old way as much 
as possible ; but despondency and insecurity prevailed on all sides. 

On the 20th of August, Andros wrote Major Gold to give notice to all 
Indians near him of just punishment for any misdemeanor; and to raise 
forces to protect the towns and country. 

Meanwhile, the celebrated Rev. Increase Mather, waiving the formality 
of asking permission to leave the country, set sail for England, and deliv- 
ered the complaints of the people, which he carried with him, into his 
Majesty's hands. On the loth of June the queen gave birth to a son, who 
was baptized by the name of James. The Catholics were jubilant over 
this realization of their prayers and pilgrimages ; but the Protestants 
questioned whether the babe was not a supposititious child, who might be 
educated in the Roman Catholic religion. Prince William of Orange sent 
over an envoy to congratulate the king upon the birth of a son, who 
returned with " entreaties from many of the great men in England to 
assist them in the recovery of their laws & liberties." Encouraged by 
these flattering marks of confidence, Prince William immediately set on 

* Col. Rec. Conn., III., 443. 



i6Sol THE DECADE OF THE ENGLISH REVOLUTION 247 

foot an army of 20,000 men, and ordered the fleet to be increased. On 
the 5th of November, he landed at Torbay, in England, and published a 
declaration, in which he set forth, " that from liis near relationship to the 
kingdom, he felt it was a duty imposed upon him to protect the civil & 
religious liberty of its people ; that he had no other object in view except 
to facilitate the calling of a free parliament, & inquiring into the birth of 
the prince of Wales." * On the nth of December, James II. abdicated, 
and on the 13th of February, William and Mary of Orange ascended the 
throne of England. 

Meanwhile a revolution was set on foot in New England. A Mr. 
Winslow, of Virginia, arrived in Boston on the 5th of April, bringing with 
him a copy of Prince William's orders for proclaiming their majesties in 
the several plantations. Governor Andros was so enraged and alarmed at 
the turn of events in the mother country, that he caused Mr. Winslow to 
be arrested and sent to jail for bringing a traitorous libel into the country. 
The troops and militia were called out to prevent the landing of any forces 
under Prince William within his jurisdiction. Among the people generally 
the wildest enthusiasm prevailed. The hope of liberty from the oppressions 
of Andros and his council kindled a fire of revolt, and on the i8th of 
April the inhabitants of Boston and the neighboring towns rose in arms, 
made themselves masters of the castle, seized Andros and his council, and 
reinstated the former governor and council. 

Emboldened by the course pursued by Massachusetts, the magistrates 
of Connecticut assembled at Hartford on the 9th of May, and reorganized 
the General Assembly of 1687. Governor Treat once more occupied the 
governor's chair. Deputy-governor James Bishop, Assistant Major Gold, 
Deputies John Burr and John Wheeler of Fairfield, and all the other 
members of the court were present, with the exception of one or two who 
had died. Immediately after opening the court, the following resolution 
was passed : 

" For the present peace & safety of this part of New England, called Conecticutt, the 
necessity of the circumstances it is now under so requireing, it was voted by the Freemen 
that they would re-establish the Government as it was before, & at the time when S' 
Edmond Androsse tooke the Government, & so to have it proceed as it did before that time, 
according to charter, engageing themselves to submit to it accordingly, untill there shall be 
a legall establishment setled amongst vs. 

Whereas this Court hath been interupted in the management of the Government in this 
Colony of Conecticutt, for neer eighteen months past, & o' lawes & courts have been dis- 
used ; that there may no damage accrue to the public hereby. It is now enacted, ordered 

* Hume's Hist, of England. 



248 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [16S9 

& declared, that all the lawes of this Colony formerly made, according to Charter, & 
courts constituted in this Collony for administration of justice, as they were before the late 
interuption, shall be of full force & vertue for the future, & till this Court shall see cause 
to make farther «S: other alteration & provission according to charter. And this Court doe 
farther order, enact & declare, that all the present millitary officers throughout this Colony 
are hereby continued & established in their respective offices according to law, untill 
there shall be farther order ; & all the souldiers in this Colony are hereby required to be 
obedient to theire respective officers, & to attend accordingly; & if there be any vacancies 
or want of any officers in any Band, or they be dissattisfyed with there present officers, 
they may nominate such others as they judg suitable in their places, at the next session of 
this Court, who may receive such establishment as shall be judged necessary." '* 

It was further voted, " that in case any occasion should come on in 
reference to our charter or government, it is their desire that the governor 
would call the General Court to consider & determine what is necessary to 
be done." Repairs were ordered to be made upon the fort at Saybrook, 
and that it should be stocked with ammunition " to be kept in readiness to 
defend the country." John and Jehu Burr were appointed justices of the 
peace for Fairfield. The fourth Wednesday in May was appointed a day 
of fasting and prayer throughout the colony. 

A ship from England arrived at Boston on the 26th of May, bringing 
the glad tidings that William and Mary had been proclaimed king and 
queen of England. The news soon reached Connecticut. Governor 
Treat called a special Assembly on the 13 of June at Hartford; and on 
the same day William and Mary, Prince and Princess of Orange, were pro- 
claimed with great ceremony and joy. Orders were given that they should 
be proclaimed at Fairfield, and in all the county towns in the colony. 
Heralds on horseback started out from Hartford at Gilpin speed, announc- 
ing their approach to every town with jubilant trumpet notes ; and rushed 
through the streets proclaiming the welcome news. Men, women and 
children with tears, laughter and hearts filled with joy, caught up the her- 
ald's stentorian tones, and shouted the happy new^s. Bonfires, ringing of 
bells, firing of cannons, merry-making and feasting, filled the air with 
cheerfulness. Since the settlement of New England, such joy had never 
been known in the plantations. Their short term of oppression had ended, 
and the streets and houses resounded with merriment and exultation. 

An address which had been prepared to send to William and Mary, 
was read to the General Assembly, accepted and ordered to be signed by 
the Governor and Secretary, in the name of the General Court. In this 
address their most heartfelt gratitude to the King of kings, and a loyal 
spirit to William and Mary were thus expressed : 

* Col. Rec. Conn., III., 250-252. 



16S9] THE DECADE OF THE ENGLISH REVOLUTION 249 

" Great S''; Great was that day when )■"= Lord who sittetli upon y^ floods, & sitteth King 
forever, did divide his & your adversaries from one another, like y^ waters of Jordan 
forced to stand upon an heap, & did begin to magnifie you lii<e Joshua in ye sight of all 
Israel, by those great actions that were so much for ye honour of God & ye great deliver- 
ance of y* English dominions from popery & slavery, & all this separated from those sor- 
rowes that usually attend y^ introducing of a peaceable settlement in any troubled state; 
all which doth affect vs with a sense of our duty to return y highest praises unto ye King 
of Kings & Lord of Hosts, & blesse Him who hath delighted in you to set you 
on ye liirone of His Israeli, &: to say, Because y^ Lord loved Israeli forever, tlierefore 
hath he made you King, to do Justice & Judgement ; & also humble & hearty acknowl- 
edgements for that great zeal that by your Majesty hath been expressed, in those hazards 
you have put your Royall Person to, & in ye expense of so great treasure in ye defense of 
ye Protestant interest : In ye consideration of all which, we your Majestie's dutifull & 
loyall subjects of your S'' Colony, are incouraged humbly to intimate that we with much 
favour obtained a Charter of King Charles ye 2d of happy memory, bearing date Aprill 
23, 1662, in ye 14th year of his reign, granted to the Govern"^ & Company of his Majestie's 
Colony of Conecticot, y^ advantages & priveledges whereof made us indeed a very happy 
people ; &: by ye blessing of God upon our endeavours we have made a considerable 
improvement of your dominions here, which with ye defense of ourselves from ye force of 
both forraign & intestine enemies has cost vs much expence of treasure & blood." 

They represented in glowing words the arts and intrigues of Andros 
and Randolph ; the quo warrantos ; the misconstruction placed upon 
their last letter to King James of a resignation of their charter, which was 
never intended ; the coming of Andros to Hartford with his court and 
grenadiers, dissolving their court, and assuming the reins of government ; 
the sorrowful submission of the magistrates and people ; the fears and per- 
plexities they had suffered from want of their old government and of being 
drawn into another war \vith the Indians through the French in Canada ; not 
receiving any orders or directions what methods to take for their security, 
they had been necessitated to put themselves into some form of government ; 
and as there w^as none so familiar to them as that of their charter, nor any 
which would so effectually gain the universal compliance of the people, 
and never having received any enrollment of that which was interpreted a 
resignation of their charter, they had on the 9th of May, by the consent of 
the major part of the freemen resumed their former mode of government 
under their charter, until they received further orders. They entreated 
his Majesty to continue to them their former liberties and privileges, both 
civil and sacred, under their charter, with such ratifications and confirma- 
tions as might further insure it an inheritance to them and their posterity. 

An impression or dread prevailed that King James might, through the 
assistance of the King of France, reclaim his throne, and the Roman Cath- 
olic religion gain an ascendency in England, through the infant James, 



250 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1689 

whose mother would undoubtedly educate him in that faith. Although 
Governor Andros professed to belong to the Church of England, by 
many he was believed to be a staunch Romanist ; but whether a Chuich- 
man or a Romanist, neither the Puritans of New England nor their neigh- 
bors in New York, had any idea of allowing the Church of Rome to gain 
a foothold among them. 

The favor shown in the mother-country to the Romanists through the 
king's Declaration of Liberty of Conscience, produced a most unhappy 
state of affairs in England as well as in America. An absurd rumor was 
set on foot in New York, that the Romanists, who were very few in num- 
bers there, were about to massacre all the Dutch inhabitants; and " that 
Lieutenant-Governor Nicholson had threatened to burn the city." Captain 
Jacob Leisler took possession of the fort, and assumed temporarily the 
military government of the city. He was a coarse, illiterate man, and a 
bitter enemy to popery, kings, and the Church of England. The wildest 
excitement followed, in the midst of which a vessel from Barbadoes 
brought tidings of the abdication of James IL ; and that William and 
Mary had taken possession of the throne of England. 

Leisler received the news with apparent delight, and gave out word 
that he should hold the fort until proper authorities were sent from Eng- 
land to control the city. He wrote to some of the leading men of Con- 
necticut and Massachusetts. Major Gold wrote Leisler on the 5th of 
June, congratulating him upon his taking possession of the fort and city, 
for the preservation of the Protestant religion. Leisler replied on the 
7th, and advised that a committee might be chosen, and " one trusted man 
sent to procure in England some privileges." He also expressed a wish 
that the people of New York might have part in the Connecticut charter, 
" being as he understood in the same latitude." 

On the 13th of June the General Court addressed a letter to Captain 
Leisler, acknowledging his declaration made on the 31st of May, in which 
he claimed " to hold the fort in the defence of the city, the Protestant 
religion," &c. ; also a writing they had seen, in which he declared that upon 
the arrival of any order from the Prince of Orange, " he would deliver up 
the fort, with all the artillery, arms & ammunition belonging to it." In 
consideration of his action, the court advised Leisler to "suffer no Roman 
Catholic, to enter the same, armed or unarmed, or be suffered to keep arms 
within the government or city." In order to encourage him, they wrote 
that they had " appointed the Honored Major Nathan Gold & Captain 
James Fitch " to go to New York, and report to them what help should 
be offered from Connecticut, 



1689] THE DECADE OF THE ENGLISH REVOLUTION 25 1 

Major Gold and Captain Fitch very soon after, rode on horseback to 
New York. News of their coming had preceded them, and the mayor 
and aldermen of the city, who had remained passive during the confusion 
of Leisler's remarkable proceedings, resolved to seek an interview with 
them before they reached the city. Unfortunately they missed them at 
Westchester, they having taken another route; and arriving at the fort 
the same evening, presented Leisler with a printed copy of the proclama- 
tion of William and Mary, and with letters of encouragement from Con- 
necticut. 

On the following morning William and Mary were formally proclaimed, 
first in the fort, and then from the City Hall. Meanwhile Major Gold 
and his companion were so blinded by the pretensions of Leisler, and his 
stories of "■ Jiellisk designs^' that they reported their " flesh trembled." 
The storm of invectives and the brutal conduct of Leisler and his 
adherents towards Major Van Cortland and the aldermen of the city, 
whom they accused of being Papists, with the cries of the ignorant crowd, 
" Seize the traitor ! & dovv'n with Popery ! " that Major Gold and Captain 
Fitch returned to Connecticut, fully persuaded that half New York was 
filled with Papists, who were only waiting a favorable opportunity to rise 
and slay every Protestant in the city. This, however, was far from being 
the case, which was proved to the fathers of Connecticut in the course 
of time, when the ambitious Leisler's disgraceful intrigues came to be 
known. 

Meanwhile William, the new king, who favored the dissenters, passed 
the bill known as the " Toleration Act " (May 24th), by which " all who 
took the oath of allegiance & supremacy, & made a declaration against 
transubstantiation, were thereby exempted from the penalties incurred by 
absenting themselves from church, or by frequenting unlawful conventi- 
cles." Dissenters were now restrained from meeting with locked doors, 
and penalties laid upon their congregations being disturbed. All Papists, 
however, and persons who denied the Trinity, were excluded from any 
share in the benefit to be derived from the new act. The opposition of 
the bishop of the Church of England, the primate, and about four hundred 
ministers to taking the oath of allegiance, resulted in their being deprived 
of their livings, and gave the king an opportunity to show his predilection 
for Presbyterians. 

There is little doubt that the Toleration Act was a source of great 
departure from the early church regulations in the New England towns, 
and the vigorous efforts which had been made within the past few years, 
to compel an enforcement of the colony laws in regard to the duties of the 



252 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [16S9 

Lord's Day. Scarcely had the joy of escaping from the tyrannical reign 
of Andros been experienced, than the colonies found themselves at war 
with the French and Indians. The eastern towns of New England had 
been subject to frequent depredations by the Indians, while the French 
and northern Indians were menacing the Canadian frontiers. A special 
General Court was assembled at Hartford on the 29th of August ; but 
there not being a sufficient number of the assistants present, it was 
resolved to call a second court on the 3d of September.* Major Gold 
alone represented Fairfield. A letter^of August 3d from Governor Brad- 
street of Massachusetts, complaining of the depredations of the eastern 
Indians, was read before the Assembly. He also informed them of the 
escape of Governor Andros from the castle; and that he had issued orders 
for him to be searched for by water and land. Another letter of August 
2 1st from Governor Bradstreet was read, renewing complaints of the incur- 
sions of the enemy on the frontier towns, murdering and taking captive 
the English and burning and destroying their houses ; and requesting that 
Captain Bull be sent from Connecticut to accompany their messengers to 
treat with the Maqueas or Mohawks. 

Captain Bull having already gone upon his mission, it was agreed to 
send commissioners to treat with the Massachusetts, Plymouth and Rhode 
Island commissioners as to the best way to suppress the eastern Indians, 
and to right whatever wrongs they have sustained. If necessary, it was 
voted to raise an army, not exceeding two hundred men from Connecticut, 
to be sent to their relief. Commissions were issued to officers appointed 
for each county. Ebenezer Johnson was chosen captain for the counties 
of Fairfield and New Haven, with orders to impress men into the service, 
if sufficient volunteers could not be raised for the number agreed upon, as 
well as arms, ammunition and provisions. Colonels, were appointed over 
sergeant-majors and all inferior officers. Two companies were organized 
and placed under the command of Captains George Dennison of New 
London, and Ebenezer Johnson of Stratford. 

The governor or deputy-governor, and not less than four of the assist- 
ants, were appointed a committee to act in any speedy emergency with 
the Indians. An order was issued for a list to be made of persons and 
estates in the colony ratable by law, to be presented to the next General 

*A severe epidemic of sore throat and fever prevailed throughout Connecticut at this time. 
Almost every town contained more or less victims of the disease. Several of the magistrates were 
prostrated by it, and the mortality in some towns was very great. Added to this affliction, the 
weather was unusually warm, " the like having not been known in the memory of man." Col. 
Rec. of Conn., IV., i. Caulkin's Hist, of New London, p. 198. 



1689] THE DECADE OF THE ENGLISH REVOLUTION 253 

Court. If any neglected to obey this order the listers were to rate them 
" will & dooiuc." 

The iith of December was appointed a day of fasting and prayer 
throughout the colony, " to seek the Lord, to save the land for his own 
name's sake, by giving counsel & success to the endeavors of his people, in 
serving his holy providence, for the suppression of the cruel & crafty 
enemies of his people," and for the removal of sickness. 

Meanwhile Andros had been captured in Rhode Island by Major San- 
ford. He was a dangerous enemy to be allowed his freedom at this time, 
and the leaders of the revolution had no idea of giving him this precious 
boon, until their cause was more definitely decided in England. Owing to 
certain clauses in their letter to the king and queen, Mr. Whiting had not 
presented it at court ; but both he and the Rev. Increase Mather were 
laboring for the restoration of their former privileges under their charters. 
In August Mr. Whiting wrote to Governor Treat, that an address by word 
of mouth had been made in their behalf, which was well received ; that a 
copy of their charter had been exhibited at the council board, where it 
was asserted that there was neither record of surrender or judgment 
against it, which was acknowledged by the late attorney-general and Mr. 
Blaythwait. He therefore supposed their charter to be good. Owing to 
his years and his want of a proper supply of money to further their 
interest, he recommended Sir Henry Ashurst as a proper attorney, and 
referred them for further information to Mr. Mather. 

On the 3d of September a sufficient number of assistants joined those 
already at Hartford, to constitute a legal court. After confirming the 
steps taken on the 29th in commissioning Captain Bull to treat with the 
Mohawks, they appointed commissioners to meet with the commissioners 
of Massachusetts, Plymouth and Rhode Island, at Boston, to consider the 
best way to insure peace, or if necessary to declare war. 

The usual fall Assembly met on the loth of October, when it was 
voted, that owing to the expense of raising troops to defend " the colony 
& of assisting his Majestie's other colonies, the troops sent to defend New 
York should be recalled." At the same time Captain Leister was assured 
that in case of an invasion, they would relieve him to their best ability. 
The number of men to be raised in each county for the expedition was 
chosen. Major Gold was appointed to furnish one lieutenant, one ensign 
and fourteen men for the county of Fairfield. 

The governor or deputy-governor, with not less than three of the 
assistants and a number of gentlemen, were constituted a committee or 
council of safety. 



254 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1689 

A change was made at this time in the mode of electing governors and 
magistrates. An annual freeman's meeting was appointed at the meeting- 
house in each town in the colony, on the third Tuesday in March, at which 
time each freeman was allowed to give in the written names of twenty 
persons nominated for assistants, to the constable and commissioners. On 
the following Tuesday the constables were to carry these sealed nominations 
to the county towns, and the constable of each county town alone, or with 
another appointed to accompany him, was to carry the said sealed 
nominees to Hartford on the last Tuesday in March, and present them in 
the court chamber to the assistants or secretary, before whom each con- 
stable was to take oath " faithfully to sort the votes." Out of the twenty 
nominees, the ones who had the most votes were to be returned to the 
county towns, and the several towns in each county notified of the twenty, 
that by the freemen were appointed to stand for the nomination at the 
court of election. The last Tuesday in April was appointed for the free- 
men to meet at nine o'clock in the morning in the meeting-house, and out 
of the twenty nominated, proceed to elect the governor, deputy-governor, 
assistants, treasurer and secretary. Each freeman was to write his vote 
for the governor and deputy-governor upon a slip of paper, seal it and 
write his name upon it; and in like manner the names of the treasurer and 
secretary, the assistants and deputies, seal them and write his name upon 
them, and deliver them to the deputies of his town, to be delivered by 
them to the court of election, " any former order to the contrary notwith- 
standing." "And the twelve men who had the most votes, were declared 
assistants for the year ensuing. 

It was declared that all persons twenty-one years of age, of peaceable, 
orderly and good conversation, owning estates to the value of forty 
shillings, upon taking the freeman's oath, should be allowed to vote. 
Having resumed the government, the annual salaries of the governors and 
magistrates were agreed upon. A tax of a penny half-penny on the pound 
was levied to defray the expenses'of the colony. If any paid two-thirds 
of their tax in money, it was to be accepted as full pay for the whole. 

While active measures were being made for the defense of the colonies, 
a French fleet, conveying a large body of land forces, had been sent from 
France for the reduction of New York ; but the design was frustrated by 
the unhappy condition of the French in Canada, who were suffering 
greatly from the incursions of the Mohawks. Meanwhile Captain Bull, 
with a company of Connecticut troops, was dispatched to Albany to 
defend that part of the country, as well as to treat with the Five Nations. 



CHAPTER VI 

1 690- 1 700 

CHURCHES, SCHOOLS, GOVERNMENT 

Prosperity of the town. — French and Indian war. — Loss at Schenectady. — Military rule. — Fairfield 
troops at Albany — Military tax. — Matthew Sherwood, captain of dragpons. — John Burr, cap- 
tain of militia. — Embargo on grain and provisions. — Agent to England. — First colonial con- 
gress in America. — Magistrates of 1690. — Expedition against Quebec. — Tyranny of Leisler. — 
Friendship of the Mohawks. — Fugitive slaves. — Fairfield village and school. — Salt manufac- 
tories. — Connecticut charter. — Latin schools. — Fairfield village church and members. — Rev. 
Charles Chauncy. — Death of Rev. Samuel Wakeman. — Rev. Joseph Webb, third pastor 
of Christ's church. — Grover's hill. — Town acts. — Witchcraft. — Men and Indians sent to 
defend Maine and Massachusetts. — Military claims of Col. Fletcher. — Major Winthrop 
sent to England. — Fairfield ta.xed. — Fairfield village and parish. — Postal laws. — Powder money. 
— Agents sent to the Five Nations. — Death of Queen Mary. — Parish records of Fair- 
field and church covenant. — Piracy and Captain Kidd. — Value of Silver. — Maintenance for 
ministers. — Expedition to New Foundland. — The Earl of Bellomont. — County courts. — Epi- 
demic of 1698. — The king's highway and postal routes. — College in Connecticut. — Magis- 
trates of 1699. — Counterfeiting. — I^aws for Fairfield village. — Official fees. — Preservation of 
forests. — Founders of Yale college. 

Fifty years had now elapsed since the settlement of the town of Fair- 
field, and the fair fields which attracted Roger Ludlow and his little band 
of pioneers had become fairer still under the cultivation of the thrifty 
planters. The large tracts, from one end of the town to the other, even to 
the centre of Redding, had been staked off or fenced in to the dividend- 
holders. Prospered in an unusual degree, Fairfield had known nothing of 
the distresses and devastations of the northern and eastern towns of Con- 
necticut. Rich in agriculture and in commerce, the growth of wheat, 
corn, oats and barley furnished supplies for other markets and enriched 
the planters. In point of political influence, no town in New England was 
of rnore importance, nor was there one that more readily responded to 
calls for military assistance from the eastern colonies, or from the province 
of New York. Fairfield's assistants, judges and ministers, might well be 
compared to the sturdy, rugged pines of the forest, standing out as sen- 
tinels, honored and revered by their contemporaries in America, and not 
less honored in England. Most of them were young men when they 
came to Fairfield, and had seen one after another of their early associates 
pass away. Though years advanced upon them, and their locks were 



256 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1690 

white with the frosts of time, they still girded on their armor, ready to die 
in harness, whenever and wherever death should overtake them. 

The alarming state of affairs in the frontier towns of New England and 
New York, and a threatened invasion by a French fleet, sent out by Louis 
XIV., under the supervision of the Count de Frontenac, to surprise 
Albany and take possession of the Island of Manhattan, occupied the 
minds of the leading men of the country at this time. The revocation of 
the edict of Nantes by Louis XIV. in 1665 had led a number of Huguenot 
families to emigrate to America. It was rumored that the French king 
had given orders, if the expedition was successful, " to put to the torture " 
some two hundred Huguenot families who had settled in the province, and 
to destroy the English settlements in the vicinity of the island. "All 
officers & principal inhabitants from whom ransoms could not be 
exacted," were to be detained in prison, and all French refugees of the 
reformed religion found in New York were to be shipped back to France. 
The control of New York by Leisler was most unfortunate, and divided 
the province into factions. His rule was that of a tyrant, and all who did 
not favor his usurpation, of whatever creed, were called Catholics, and 
treated with insult and severity. Appeals were sent to the king by promi- 
nent gentlemen, asking for a large force to protect "the centre of all the 
English plantations." An effort was made at this time to include New 
York, Connecticut, the Jerseys and Pennsylvania, under one government, 
which was strongly opposed by the Rev. Increase Mather in England. 

Meanwhile, a body of between two and three hundred French and 
Indians, equipped and furnished for a winter's campaign, under the com- 
mand of D'Aillebout, De Mantel and Le Moyn, had been dispatched from 
Montreal against the English frontier settlements. During a march of 
twenty-two days of intense suffering from cold and hunger, they reached 
Schenectady on the 8th of February, having resolved to give themselves 
up as prisoners of war. Encouraged, however, by their scouts, they 
entered the town at eleven o'clock at night, fell upon the unsuspecting 
inhabitants, and put them to death in the most cruel and inhuman manner. 
Sixty persons were killed and twenty captured. Others, escaping in their 
night-clothes into the forests, suffered the pangs of frozen limbs and 
amputation. 

Captain Bull, who had been sent with the Connecticut forces to defend 
Albany, lost his lieutenant, one of his sergeants, and five others were taken 
prisoners. On the 1 8th of March an attack was made upon Salmon Falls. 
Thirty-six men were killed, and fifty-four, mostly women and children, 
taken captives. The whole country v/as roused, and Connecticut was 



i6go] CHURCHES, SCHOOLS, GOVERNMENT 257 

again called upon to assist still further in the defense of New York, the 
frontiers of New Hampshire and Massachusetts, and the upper towns on 
the Connecticut river. 

Through instructions from Governor Andros in August, 1688, Major 
Gold had taken every precaution for the defense of Fairfield in case of an 
attack from foreign foes or hostile Indians. The town was now put under 
strict vigilance and military rule. All along the Sound, watch and ward 
was kept by day and by night. A special General Assembly was held at 
Hartford on the nth of April, when war was declared against the 
French and Indians of Canada. The governor, deputy-governor, and the 
assistants of the General Court were made a council of war. Two foot com- 
panies of English and Indians were ordered to be speedily raised and sent for 
the protection of Albany, one of which was to be from the Hartford and 
New London counties, under the command of Captain Joseph Fitch ; while 
the others, consisting of sixty English and forty Indians, from Fairfield 
and New Haven counties, were commanded by Captain Ebenezer John- 
son of Stratford. A tax of four pence on the pound was levied to defray 
the expenses of the expedition. That there might be no failure in fitting 
out and maintaining the soldiers for the expedition, the Assembly recom- 
mended the select-men and assistants of each town to send the colony 
what provisions and grain should be necessary for the space of ten months. 
John Burr was appointed captain, Mathew Sherwood lieutenant, and 
Nathan Gold, jr., ensign of the Fairfield train band. Mathew Sherwood 
of Stratfield was commissioned captain of the dragoons of Fairfield 
county, James Judson lieutenant, and David Waterbury ensign.* The 
commissioned ofificers of each town were to list, and appoint every seventh 
man in each company to be a flying army of dragoons. All male persons 
upwards of sixteen years of age, except Indians and negroes, were ordered 
to serve on the town military watch. The watch of persons absent or at sea 
was to be supplied by their families ; widows and men disabled by infirm- 
ities, owning estates of fifty pounds, were to supply a watch for their 
protection. Ministers, assistants, and commissioned ofificers were exempt 
from this obligation. 

The fortifications of each town were ordered to be repaired and 
equipped without delay. There appears to be no document confirming 
the idea that Grover's hill was fortified at this time, but it undoubtedly 
was, and had been for a long time, as it commanded the harbor of Black 

* Captains were allowed 25s. a week ; lieutenants, 18^ ; ensigns, 15^ ; sergeants, 12^ ; cor- 
porals, 10^ ; and trumpeters, 12s The Indians were to be paid by agreement with their captains. 
— Col. Rec. Conn., vol. 4. 19, 20. 
17 



258 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [i5go 

Rock and Fairfield. To prevent the seizure of grain by the French or 
pirates, it was ordered, " that no corn or provision of any kind should be 
shipped out of the ports of the colony for the space of three months, vv^ith- 
oiit special license from the governor or two assistants," under a penalty of 
confiscation. Major Gold and Captain John Burr were appointed to give 
special licenses for Fairfield county. A letter having been sent to the 
king by the governor and council m January, and fifty pounds having also 
been raised to send to their agent in England to be used in behalf of the 
interests of the colony, the Assembly agreed that it should be paid out of 
the public treasury. 

Through the influence of Captain Leisler, the meeting of the commis- 
sioners of the united colonies took place on the 1st of May at New York 
instead of Rhode Island. This was the first colonial congress ever held in 
America. Major Gold and William Pitkin represented Connecticut. It 
was agreed that an attack should be made upon Quebec, and that an army 
of eight or nine hundred Englishmen and five or six hundred Indians 
should be raised without delay. A fleet and army of eighteen hundred or 
two thousand men were to proceed up the St. Lawrence at the same time 
and unite with the land forces in the attack upon Quebec. The Five 
Nations v/ere expected to join them. New York was to furnish four 
hundred men; Massachusetts, one hundred and sixty; Plymouth, sixty ; 
Connecticut, two foot companies of two hundred men, out of which number 
New Haven and Fairfield counties were to raise sixty English and forty 
Indians, and Maryland one hundred. Rhode Island, not being able to 
send men, promised to raise money instead.* 

Without delay Leisler armed and equipped vessels to proceed to 
Quebec, and also privateers to cruise off Block Island and on Long Island 
Sound, f Although an appeal was made for assistance from England, the 
navy of King William was needed at home, and could not furnish any 
help whatever to the colonies at this time. The general court of election 
met at Hartford immediately after the congress adjourned. Major Gold 
and Major John Burr were chosen assistants, Mr. John Wakeman, deputy, 
and Jehu Burr, commissioner. Major Gold was appointed with Mr. 
Samuel Willys to return the thanks of the Assembly to the Rev. James 
Pierpont for preaching an election sermon. It was also voted that one 
hundred and thirty-five Englishmen should be added to the Connecticut 
soldiers already in Albany, and as many Indians as would swell the 
num.ber to two hundred. The commissioners were ordered to supply all 

* Trumbull's Hist. Conn., I., 402. 

f Mrs. Martha J. Lamb's Hist New York, I., 370. 



j6goj CHURCHES, SCHOOLS, GOVERNMENT 259 

necessary clothing and provisions for the soldiers that had occasion to 
march through the plantations. Each dragoon was to be furnished with 
ten pounds of good biscuit. Daniel Burr was appointed commissary for 
Fairfield county. 

News having reached the court that the forces sent to the relief of 
Albany had nearly reached their destination, but that the small-pox had 
broken out among them; and also that they were unwilling to march 
under Major Jacob Milburne, the son-in-law of Leisler, or under a major 
appointed by Captain Leisler, it was resolved to send to Boston and ascer- 
tain when soldiers from there would be ready to move from Westfield, and 
who they were willing should be their major. In the mean time it was 
voted that the recruits should not move from their places until they heard 
again from Albany. John Winthrop was soon after appointed major-gen- 
eral and commander-in-chief of the land forces. Sir William Phipps. the 
governor of Massachusetts, was made commander-in-chief of the fleet, 
which consisted of between thirty and forty vessels, the largest of which 
carried forty-four guns and two hundred men. 

Early in August the land forces under Major Winthrop arrived at 
Wood Creek. About the same time the fleet sailed from Narragansett, 
but through delays and adverse winds did not arrive at Quebec before the 
5th of October. Meanwhile the land forces continued their march to the 
appointed rendezvous of the Five Nations. They found but about seventy 
warriors from the Mohawks and Oneydas. Messengers were dispatched 
to the other nations, but they returned with a request for delay. After 
advancing about a hundred miles farther north, to the head of Lake Cham- 
plain, General Winthrop, not finding a sufficient supply of canoes to con- 
vey his army across the lake into Canada, appealed to the Indians for 
others ; but they replied " that it was too late in the season to make 
canoes, as the bark would not peel." They artfully evaded every effort 
proposed by the council of war, discouraged an attack upon Quebec as an 
undertaking which "looked too high," and advised an attack upon Cam- 
bly and the settlements on this side of the St. Lawrence. 

At this critical time another misfortune arose. Milburne had been 
appointed commissary for the New York forces, and was to furnish a 
bountiful supply of provisions. Upon discovering that he had failed to do 
so, a council of war was held, and it was learned that the main body would 
be obliged to retire to Albany for subsistence. The Connecticut forces 
had come well supplied with provisions ; but they found only a portion of 
the army. About a hundred and forty of the bravest young men and 
Indians were dispatched into Canada to make all the display possible in 



26o HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD 



[1690 



favor of the fleet. The retreat to Albany, however, prior to the arrival of 
the fleet before Quebec, resulted in the defeat of the expedition. Mean- 
while Count Fontenac moved with all his force to Montreal, to defend the 
country against the advancing army. Upon receiving intelligence through 
his scouts that this army was retreating to Albany, he immediately 
returned to Quebec. Before his arrival, there were not more than two 
hundred Frenchmen in the place, which, if attacked, would have surren- 
dered at the first summons. The troops, however, landed on the 8th of 
October, and advanced towards the town. On the following day the 
ships were drawn up before it, and commenced a brisk cannonading, but to 
little effect. The well-directed fire of the French batteries did consider- 
able damage to their vessels, and although the troops maintained their 
ground with spirit, the accounts which they received of the strength of the 
enemy so discouraged them, that on the nth they re-embarked. A severe 
storm soon after drove them from their moorings, and scattered the whole 
fleet. Thus ended a well concerted expedition, which, for want of proper 
preparations and skillful navigators, was defeated. 

Captain Leisler and his party were enraged at the retreat. Milburne 
charged upon Major Winthrop his own short comings ; but the army and 
the principal gentlemen of Albany, among whom was Robert Livingston, 
fully justified Winthrop, knowing it would have been madness to cross 
into the enemy's country without a sufficient supply of provisions. Leis- 
ler took opportunity while the army were encamped on this side of the 
Hudson, to arrest Major Winthrop and put him, as well as the Connecti- 
cut commissary, Richard Blackleach, of Stratford, in irons, that they might 
be tried before a court-martial. After passing several days under arrest, 
Winthrop was brought to trial ; but the Mohawks of his camp crossed the 
river, and carried him. off, to the great joy of the army. So enraged was 
, Leisler at the favor shown Winthrop by the gentlemen of the general 
council at Albany, that they were obliged to take refuge from his wrath in 
New England. Robert Livingston resided for some time at Hartford. 

The treatment Major Winthrop received from Leisler gave great 
offense in Connecticut, and was regarded as entirely lawless. The gov- 
ernor and his council of war demanded Winthrop's release, and also that 
of commissary Blackleach. Governor Treat, in the name of the council, 
wrote to Leisler: " If you are concerned, so are we, since the army is con- 
federate ; & if you alone judge upon the general's & council of war's 
action, it will infringe our liberty. ... A prison is not a catJwlicon for all 
state maladies, though so much used by you." Treat further wrote to 
Leisler that as he (Leisler) was one to give his signature to the article 



1690] CHURCHES, SCHOOLS, GOVERNMENT 261 

agreed upon at New York, if he proceeded in his lawless course, and if the 
sending of their best friends to join with him proved a pitfall to them, it 
would necessitate future forbearance, whatever the consequences might 
be, as it would " make not only the powerful friends of Governor Win- 
throp, but all New England, his (Leisler's) enemies, for Winthrop's char- 
acter was too well known to be drawn into question or disrepute by his 
(Leisler's) conduct towards him." * 

At the meeting of the General Court in October, the following resolu- 
tions were offered : " The court having heard & considered a narrative 
from the Hon''''^ Major-General John Winthrop, of his proceedings with 
the army at Wood Creek; & the reasons of his proceeding no further 
than the Houtkill or Wooden Creek in that design. Capt. James Fitch 
& Captain Daniel Withereil are appointed to return him the thanks of 
the court, for his good service to their Majesties & the colony of Con- 
necticut ; & to assure him that on all seasonable occasions, they will be 
ready to manifest their good resentment of his fidelity, valour & pru- 
dence, already manifested, & help farther promised if occasion required." 
Forty pounds was then awarded him as a further testimony of their 
acceptance and thankfulness for his good services, f 

Captain Ebcnezer Johnson, with Major Gold, John Burr, and Joseph 
Bastard, of Fairfield, were appointed a committee to examine and audit 
Commissary Blackleach's account with the country. Isaac Hall of Fair- 
field was voted thirty pounds for his services as surgeon to the soldiers, 
ten shillings a week for the services of his son, " & forty shillings to 
clear his charges in the house." Rev. Charles Chauncey, of Pequonnock, 
as chaplain of the Connecticut forces, was granted twenty shillings a week. 
Each trooper was granted two shillings six pence a day ; captains, four 
shillings ; lieutenants, three shillings six pence ; cornet players and quar- 
termasters, three shillings ; trumpeters, two shillings nine pence, and cor- 
porals, two shillings nine pence a day. It was further ordered that two 
shillings a week should be allowed for every horse used, and four pounds 
for every horse lost in the late expedition. A soldier " having providen- 
tially lost his arms," was to be paid their full value out of the public 
treasury. Every soldier who deserted the army, or fled from his colors, 
forfeited half of his wages, and if a servant, he was to make reparation 
by a longer service. All such soldiers and servants were to answer for 
their delinquencies at a county court. The soldiers in each plantation 
were to bring their arms and ammunition to the meeting-house on the 

* Trumbull's Hist, of Conn., I., 575. 
t Col Rec. of Conn., IV., 38. 



262 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1690 

Sabbath, and all public days of worship, when, and as often as the county- 
major or chief military ofificer in any town should appoint, under a penalty 
of five shillings. The dragoons were disbanded, and ordered to return to 
their former foot companies. Major John Burr and Captain Mathew 
Sherwood, their chaplain. Rev. Charles Chauncey, surgeon Isaac Hall, and 
the soldiers of the town, were welcomed home with great rejoicing. The 
release of Commissary Blackleach was made a subject of sympathetic dis- 
cussion. It would seem difificult to attach reproach to him, and none was 
made by the General Court. Besides the companies sent to defend Albany 
and to attack Quebec, a band of soldiers were kept on the Connecticut 
river for the defense of the county of Hampshire. A tax of four pence 
upon a pound was levied upon the towns to defray the debt of the 
colony. Wheat, Indian corn and pork, sent from Hartford and New 
Haven, were ordered to be disposed of for purchasing necessary ammu- 
nition, to be sent to the county towns and distributed to the several 
towns according to their list of estates. Major John Burr and Joseph 
Bastard, were appointed on a committee to audit the accounts of the 
colonial treasurer. 

A law to prevent the escape of negro slaves from the colony was 
passed during the sitting of this Assembly, whereby negro servants 
found escaping or wandering out of the town to which they belonged, 
without a ticket or passport from their owners, should be arrested, brought 
before proper authorities, and returned. A penalty of twenty shillings 
was levied upon all ferrymen who allowed negroes to cross their ferries 
without a passport. This law was also to be observed towards vagrants 
and suspected persons. Free negroes, traveling without certificates, were 
required to pay their own fines. It appears that the stringent laws passed 
for promoting Christianity by the reforming synods, were not carried out 
with that success which had been so earnestly desired. 

The privileges granted by the Toleration Act (24th May, 1689) in Eng- 
land, " which relieved Protestant dissenters from the requirements of 
the Act of Uniformity (1662) & gave them liberty to worship with open 
doors, & also freed them from the penalties of a non-attendance at 
church " as before stated, had its influence in New England. In conse- 
quence of this the General Court, " finding to their sorrow, that instead of 
the reformation aimed at," vice and corruption increased more than 
ever; "& fearing if the Lord in his mercy & sovereign grace" did not 
prevent the growing evils, " they might at length prove an incorrigible 
people, & so a generation of his wrath without remedy, ripened for 
deserved desolation, ... so obvious to all by cruel war & sick- 



1690] CHURCHES, SCHOOLS, GOVERNMENT 263 

ncss," resolved once more not only to recommend all the magistrates, 
select-men and commissioners of the several plantations in the colony, 
as well as the constables and grand juries, to carefully attend and 
carry out the orders and reformed laws passed in 1684, with "other good 
& wholesome laws, that so our government & rulers may be a terror to 
evil doers, as in our first times, that the Lord may yet take pleasure in 
us as a people." The court also further recommended the ministers in all 
the churches, " by their holy labors " to further to their utmost endeavor 
the great work of reformation. Thus the magistrates of Connecticut 
sought to cleanse Fairfield, as well as all the other towns in the colony, of 
every evil provoking to the wrath of the Most High. The Bible being 
their daily companion, and regarding themselves like the Israelites of old, 
a chosen people, led by the guiding hand of the Almighty into a wilder- 
ness, to establish a church and government upon the principles of truth 
and righteousness, they sought to govern the colony according to these 
principles, and to purify every individual family, from that of the richest 
planter to the humblest cottage of the poor man, even to the wigwam of 
the savage, from every social and moral vice. In the breast, however, of 
every son and daughter of America dwelt the one great principle of 
religious and political liberty, which, with the New England colonists, had 
been the watchword of every civil and ecclesiastical movement, since 
the dawn of the Reformation. At no previous time, since the Reforma- 
tion had all classes, except the Romanists, enjoyed a greater degree 
of freedom in England than at the present. The dissenters, who had 
been compelled to worship with closed doors in the mother country, 
now not only assembled with open doors, but were protected from moles- 
tation. In Connecticut, however, none, as yet, were free to worship openly, 
save in the established church of the colony. Nor is this a matter of 
surprise, when it is considered that the aim of the early New England 
planters was to make this country a home for all who dissented from the 
Church of England and from the fiery rule of Catholicism. They had 
much 3/et to struggle through, and much to contend with. 

At the General Court in May, a petition was presented by the inhabit- 
ants of Pequonnock, or the east farmers, " that they might have liberty to 
procure a minister among themselves, & be freed from paying the 
minister at Fairfield." ■''' This petition was presented to the court by 
Lieutenant James Bennet, of Pequonnock, and signed with forty-six 
names, t Major Gold and John Wakeman objected, upon the ground that 

*Col. Rec. Conn., IV.. 29. 

f Ecclesiastical Records. State Archives, I., 105-130. 



264 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1691 

the Pequonnock planters had not first applied to the magistrates of Fair- 
field, and as Lieutenant Bennet did not make it appear that he had been 
empowered to petition in behalf of Fairfield, the court recommended, 
"the town of Fairfield & the people of Pequonnock to meet lovingly 
together about the matter," . . . and they would confirm or ratify 
what should be mutually agreed upon. 

Particular attention was paid by the Assembly at this time to further 
educational interests in the several towns in the colony. It appears that 
notwithstanding the orders requiring all children as well as servants to 
attend school, there were many persons unable to read in English, 
and thereby incapable of reading the Bible or " the good laws of the 
colony," in consequence of which the court decreed " that all pastors & 
masters should cause their respective children & servants to read dis- 
tinctly the English tongue;" and that the grand jurymen in each town 
should once a year visit each family, and satisfy themselves whether all 
children under age and servants, were making due progress in learning. If 
it was found that parents, guardians or masters neglected this law, their 
names were to be sent in to the county court, where they were to be fined 
twenty shillings for each child or servant who had not been sent to 
school, " unless the child or servant was proven incapacitated to learn." 
Town schools were to be kept up'where such had already existed, and 
were exempt from fine, provided they were open six months in the year, 
for the education of all such children and servants as were engaged in the 
summer months in the fields. Two free schools were ordered to be main- 
tained by the colony, one at Hartford and one at New Haven, for all such 
scholars who could "first read the psalter," to be taught " reading, writing, 
arithmetic, Latin & Greek." The masters of these free schools were to 
be chosen by the magistrates and ministers of the counties of Hartford 
and New Haven, and their salaries were fixed at sixty pounds in county 
pay, thirty pounds of which was to be paid out of the school revenue of 
Hartford and New Haven, but first by the gifts of individuals as far as 
they would go. These schools were the first Latin schools of Connecticut. 

At a town meeting held on the 23d of March, Thomas Morehouse was 
given liberty to erect a mill at the foot of the creek, near the house of 
John Davis. Thomas Merwin was also granted a piece of land near the 
same place, to erect a tan vat. At the May election Major Gold and 
Major John Burr were elected assistants, Jehu Burr and Samuel Ward 
deputies, and Captain Jehu Burr commissioner for Fajrfield. Jehu Burr 
was also appointed to administer the commissioner's oath to the newly 
elected commissioners of Stratford, Norwalk, Stamford and Greenwich. 



jggi] CHURCHES, SCHOOLS, GOVERNMENT 265 

Owing to a great scarcity of salt and other importations during the late 
war, for the encouragement of salt-making, the Assembly offered to give 
an exclusive patent for ten years, to any person familiar with the art, and 
possessing a sufficient estate, for establishing salt works. Small quantities 
made in families for private use, were exempt from this law. A long dis- 
pute between Dr. Isaac Hall and his brother Samuel, was at this time 
brought before the Assembly. The complaint of Samuel Hall was to the 
effect that his brother, Dr. Isaac, had seized certain lands belonging to 
him, and had not only used high language, " but many violences & threat- 
enings," and also resisted ail means used in the common law for his pro- 
tection. The Assembly ordered a summons to be issued and served upon 
Dr. Isaac Hall, for his appearance before the next court of assistants. 
Considerable delay having been experienced in cases of appeal from the 
county courts to the court of assistants held after the General Court in 
May, it was voted that the court of assistants should be held the Monday 
before the General Court of election, " whereby all appellants from the 
court of assistants might be more speedily issued." No change was made 
in the October term. 

Mr. James Porter, of London, had been employed in the interests of 
the colony, and several letters had been received from him ; also one from 
the Rev. Increase Mather; therefore a vote of thanks was ordered to be 
sent them, and also a request that they would present the former letter of 
Connecticut to their majesties, acquaint them with losses they had sus- 
tained in the defense of their colonies in America, which had prevented 
them from sending a more liberal supply of money for proper agents to 
represent their cause, and, if not already done, to endeavor to procure the 
favor of the king and queen in accepting them under their charter.* The 
Bill of Rights, which was passed in England on the 13th of February, 1689, 
provided that no charter granted before the 23d of October should be 
impeached or made invalid by the passage of this bill, but remain of the 
same force and effect in law, " & no other than as if this act had never been 
made." f The charters of the city of London and other corporations v.^ere 
restored. Upon the question being raised as to the legality of the charter 
of Connecticut, the following questions were submitted to some of the 
most learned legal gentlemen in England : 

"Query, Whether the charter belonging to Connecticut, in New England, is, by 
means of their involuntary submission to Sir Edmund Andres's government, void in law, 

* Col. Rec. Conn., IV., 52, 54. State Archives, Foreign Correspondence, II., 22-27. 
f Students' Hume, p. 548. 



266 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1691 

so as that the k'wg may send a governor to them, contrary to their charter privileges, when 
there has been no judgment entered against tlieir charter, nor any surrender thereof upon 
record ? 

I am of opinion, that such submission, as is put, in this case, doth not invalidate the 
charter, or any of the powers therein, which were granted under the great seal ; and 
that the charter not being surrendered under the common seal, and that surrender duly 
enrolled of record, nor any judgment of record entered against it, the same remains good 
and valid in law ; and the said corporation may lawfully execute the powers and privileges 
thereby granted, notwithstanding such submission, and appointment of a governor as 
aforesaid. Edward Ward. 

2nd. August 1690. 

I am of the same opinion. J. SOMERS. 

I am of the same opmion ; and as this matter is stated, there is no ground of doubt. 

Geo. Treby." * 

This gave great joy to all the Connecticut planters, and to none more 
than to the planters of Fairfield. The second Thursday in June was 
appointed a day of general fasting and prayer that God would bless their 
designs upon their enemies and the disturbers of the progress of their 
religious peace ; and that he would bless their Majesties and prosper their 
councils in behalf of the colony. 

During the meeting of the Assembly in May, Captain Jehu Burr pre- 
sented a petition for increasing the number of free grammar or Latin 
schools in the colony, by granting one in each of Fairfield and New Lon-" 
don counties ; but the court, after twice hearing the bill read, decided that 
they saw no reason to make any alteration in the law passed for two free 
schools in the colony. At the same time the Pequonnock planters reso- 
lutely pushed their efforts to establish a church and school within their 
limits. From the following town record, it does not appear that they 
carried out the advice of the General Court in " discoursing lovingly 
together" : 

" April 27. 1691, We the inhabitants of Pequonnock being warned to a town meet- 
ing held in Fairfield, & notwithstanding that one end lor which it was warned is to hire a 
school-master in the tow^n of Fairfield, we the inhabitants of Pequonnock, at a general 
meeting thereof, have thought & met to declare our own protest against a dislike of such 
a thing, & that for many reasons inducing thereto, & instead of many that might be men- 
tioned, let these two satisfy, because the law hath enjoined to half a year only, & as to a 
grammar school totally freed us ; we moreover have already hired a school-master among 
ourselves for the instruction of children, which are not able to come to any school that is 
served in Fairfield. Wherefore the inhabitants of Pequonnock do desire that this our 
protest may be entered & recorded, that this is our protest against havmg a school in the 
town of Fairfield, we do set our hands. Signed. May 6. 1691 ; Mathew Sherwood jr, 

* Trumbull's Hist. Conn., I., 407. 



i6gi] CHURCHES, SCHOOLS, GOVERNMENT 267 

Samuel Gregory, Joseph Seely, Richard Hubbell sr, Moses Jackson sen, Jolin Odell jr, 
Timotliy Wheeler, Ephraim Wheeler, Samuel Hall. Samuel Treadwell, Nathaniel Sher- 
wood sen, James Bennit sen, Richard Hubbell jr, James Bennitjr, Thomas Morehouse sen." 

They renewed their petition on tlic 14th to the May Assembly, when 
opposition of the strongest character was raised by Major Gold, Captains 
John and Jehu Burr, and Deputy Samuel Ward. Nothing daunted, the 
same month the petitioners of Pequonnock renewed their application to be 
made a separate society, and also asked that a minister might be settled 
among them. The General Court recommended that both parties should 
meet and arrive at " a loving agreement among themselves, with the best 
advice they can come at in the mean time." Before the adjournment of 
the court, however, the petitioners were so successful as to receive liberty 
" to procure & settle an orthodox minister among them, if they found 
themselves able to do so, provided they paid their just proportion of the 
ecclesiastical tax towards the maintenance of the ministry in Fairfield, 
until they could obtain freedom from the town of Fairfield or the General 
Court." In October they were still more successful, as the General Court 
released them from paying towards the support of a minister at Fairfield, 
provided they paid their just dues to that church up to the 8th of the same 
month. 

Party feeling ran so high that no less than twenty-four questions, of a 
most remarkable nature, were presented to the court. They were in the 
hand-writing of Judge Gold, remonstrating against such a separation, and 
were as follows : 

1. " WHiether laws, charters or grants are of any value, or whether corporations, socie- 
ties or peculiar persons can call anything their own ? 

2. Whether the town of Fairfield be outlawed, or whether or no it hath any right or 
interest in that grant to townships ? 

3. Whether leaping over the laws & trampling down the liberty of the subjects be 
not tyrannical power ? 

4. If laws, charters & grants may be broken at will & pleasure, are we any longer 
safe in our lives, liberties or estates, but by it lie open to the furious invasion of all that is 
ruinous & calamitous ? 

5. Whether that grant unto townships be not one of the sweetest flowers in the gar- 
den of the laws, to whom we owe the flourishing prosperity of a well governed town ? 

6. Whether it be according to rules on equity, that this, one of your first born, a 
lovely beautiful child, should be disinherited & lose its birthright to an inferior brat ? 

7. Whether it be not horrible & ridiculous to bring grants, liberties & privileges, on 
record into a Chancery or Ecclesiastical Court to be determined ? 

8. Whether it be not opposed to equity, law & justice that any persons or courts 
should be pulling down ye walls of God's Providence, in which their own hands were 



f 



268 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1691 

building, & that endeavors should be made to call down those privileges with which your- 
selves have enriched us, whether this be not laying the ax to the root of our liberties ? 

9. Whether the king may, without infringement on our liberties, enjoin us to enter- 
taine an Episcopal minister in every town, & the one half of every town to contribute to 
his maintenance ? 

10. If we dare be clipping the privileges of our recorded grants, may not the king 
take the example against us, & we cannot but say in our own mouths, for such measure 
as we measured shall be measured to us again ? 

11. When kings & princes have openly violated their plighted faith to their sub- 
jects, whether their subjects have not frequently thrown up their allegiance ? 

12. When the will governs & directs where no law provides, whether that be not 
arbitrary power, or else the apostle misses it when he saith, where there is no law there is 
no transgression ? 

• 13. Whether arbitrary power be not a contagious, ketching distemper, & whether 
the most & best of men in authority are not apt to be tainted & infected by it, without 
good looking after ; & is it not observed where arbitrary power predominates, it either 
makes the subjects slaves or enrolls the kingdom in blood ? 

14. Whether it be not our concern to look about us that it creep not insensible upon 
us, & whether or no that hand deserves to be cut off that is held up to vote arbitrary 
power ? 

15. Whether it be not more honorable & just to give a shilling of a man's own, than 
2o£ of another person's, or whether the proverb be not false that saith, some persons w ill 
cut large thongs out of other men's leather? 

16. Whether or no the lopping off of a fruitful limb at an unseasonable time of the 
year, will not endanger the life of the flourishing tree ? 

17. Whether the casting up of plantation shreds, & making priests of the meanest of 
the people, be not the way to bring down the reputation of religion ? 

18. Whether the sitting up of a Court order (with a not withstanding) in opposition 
to a fundamental grant, will not make civil wars amongst our laws ? 

ig. Whether those freemen of whom (the body of this Court is made up) can grant 
other oaths to the laws of this colony with any safety, if they should let any law lie dor- 
mant or unregarded, whilst other orders be made to cut that short ? 

20. Whether or no if you take this branch of our privileges from us, may we not take 
another, & so to the end of the chapter, & our so much boasted of privileges will be no 
more than a vain shadow or an emty shell ? 

21. If this honorable Court should, out of extraordinary zeal, discharge those of Pe- 
quonnock from paying any of our town dues, whether or no the wholesome laws enacted 
by the same power, still in force & vigor, are repealed, will not help us to our money & 
credit again ? 

22. If the settling of plantations & gathering churches be found a powerful way & 
means to advance God's glory, & the people's good, what may be thought of those, who, 
instead of gathering churches, make havoc & shipwreck, pull them in pieces, & instead 
of making two churches of one, they mar both ? 

23. Whether religion can thrive when the peace of a place is lost ? 

24. Whether there be not a woe pronounced against them by whom offences come ? " 

The Rev. Charles Chauncey, son of the Rev. Israel Chauncey, of Strat- 



1691] CHURCHES, SCHOOLS, GOVERNMENT 269 

ford, and grandson of President Charles Chaunccy, of Harvard College, 
preached to the people of Pequonnock, cither in the school-house or in 
the dwellings of the planters, from about the year 1688, when not engaged 
as a chaplain and surgeon in the expeditions sent out against the French 
and Indians. He became very popular among them, and they invited him 
at this time to take upon him the ofifice of a permanent pastor. Without 
delay they proceeded to erect a small church. The spot selected was, 
according to the custom of those days, on one of the most prominent hills 
in the village, which commanded a fine view of the surrounding country 
and Long Island Sound, and was situated on Division street, a short dis- 
tance south of the king's highway, still known as Mceting-House hill. 
The members of this first church of Stratfield were as follows : 

"The names of those who have renewed the Covenant, & personally subjected them- 
selves to the government of Christ in His church, & particularly in this Church ; together 
with ye time of yr doing it." 

Edward & Mary Treadwell 23. Dec. 1695. Mary Bennet y« wife of James Bennet ye 
shipwright 10. May 1696. | Sarah wife of Ephraim Wheeler 31. Jan. 1696. Samuel 
Wells. Benjamin Fairweather. Mathew Sherwood jr. Daniel Beardsly. Elijah Crane. 
Nathaniel Porter. William Beardsly. Samuel Smedly. Samuel Summers. John Beardsly. 
John Tredwell. Samuel Wheeler. Samuel Odell. Ebenezer Beardsly. Benjamin Beardsly. 
Samuel Gregory. Joseph Bennet. Nathaniel Knap. Jonathan Wakely. Mary Sher- 
wood to 8. Feb. 1697. Rebecca Sealey, John's wife. Mary Odell. Sarah Hubbell. Joanna 
Walker. Abigail French. Elizabeth Jackson. Rebecca Beardsly. Hannah Odell d. of 
John Sr., wife of Nathaniel Seely, & 1706 of Isaac Sterling. Abigail Summers. Mary 
Beardsly. Ruth Treadwell. Abigail Gregory. Ruth Wheeler. Ruth Wakely. Samuel 
& Martha Tredwell 1698. Isaac Bennet & wife. John & Deborah Burr 1700. 

Communicants. 

The names of such as have been received to full communion in this church who were 
not before in full communion elsewhere. 

Joseph & Sarah Seely 8. Dec. 1695. Hannah Sherman & Susanna Hall 5. Jan. 1695-*. 
Edward Preston 29. March 1696. Abel & Elizabeth Bingham 10. May 1696. Joanna 
Sherwood 21. Sept. 1696. Rebecca Wheeler 25. Oct. 1696. Sarah Chauncey 20. Dec. 
1696. James & Sarah Bennet 7. Nov. 1697. Samuel French 8. March 1697-^. John Odell 
Sen"- & Samuel Tredwell sr. 20 Feb. 1697-^. MaryOdelljr. 29. May 1698. Rebecca Wheeler 
& Isaac Wilson 28. Aug. 1699. Abigail French 22. April 1699. Mary Crane 22. Oct. 
1699. J^"^ H3.II 7. April 1700, 

The names of those that were afterwards received by letters dismissary or recom- 
mendatory from other churches were as follows. From Fairfield : 

Mary Sherwood. Ann Wheeler. Mary Odell. Rebecca Gregory. Ruth Tredwell. 
Mercy Wheeler. Abigail Wells. Elizabeth Sherwood. Sarah Odell. Their letter was 
accepted & accepted Anno. 1695. From Stratford : Abigail wife of Richard Hubbell 
senr. Mary wife of James Publjell. Abigail Beardsley wife of Samuel. Abigail Wakely 
dau. of Henry, married Paul Gregory Jun'' | Temperance wife of Richard Hubbell jr. 
Their letter read Sc accepted 10. July 1693. Concord — Joseph Wheeler 20. Dec. 1697 & 



270 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1692 

accepted 20. Dec 1697. | Mary Jackson of Norwalk, her letter read 20. Dec. 1697, & 
accepted 20. Dec. 1697. | Concord — Stratford-Hannah Fairchild 10. Sept. 1699. read & 
accepted 10 Sept 1699. | Thomas Hawley, his letter read & accepted. | Mary wife of 
John Beardsly of Fairfield, her letter read & accepted 26. July 1702. | Woodbury — Abi- 
gail Tredwell of Woodbury accepted 24. Nov. 1704. | Concord — Sarah Whitacus 17. June 
1705. Charleston — Zacheriah Ferris 9. Sept. 1705. Stratfield Parish Records. 

At the October term of the Assembly, Captain John Wakeman, and 
EHphalet Hill acted as deputies in place of Jehu Burr and Samuel Ward. 
Eliphalet Hill was appointed on a committee to perfect the lists of persons 
and estates in the several towns in th.e colony. Major Gold and Captain 
John Burr were appointed to audit the constables' account of Stratford. 
A tax of three pence on the pound was levied on all the towns to defray 
the expenses of the colony, to be paid as follows: in wheat, peas, Indian 
corn, and rye ; winter wheat, 4s. 6d. ; peas, 2s. 6d. ; Indian corn, 2s. 6d. 
per pushel ; pork, £'^, los. per barrel, and beef 40s. per barrel; or one-half 
of the above value in current money of New England. A portion of this 
tax was to be appropriated towards paying the Connecticut soldiers, who 
had been sent to protect Deerfield and Northfield from the ravages of the 
Indians. The case of Dr. Isaac Hall and his brother Samuel, was sub- 
mitted to the hearing of Governor Treat, Major Gold, and Captain John 
Burr. 

Upon application from Governor Bradstreet, for assistance in maintain- 
ing a garrison in the frontier towns of Maine and New Haven, a special 
Assembly met at Hartford on the igth of November, when the ministers 
of the several towns in the colony were recommended to call upon the 
people to contribute liberally towards this purpose. These contributions 
were to be sent to the deacons, and by them speedily conveyed from the 
seaport towns to the garrison and poor families left in the exposed towns. 

On the 8th of March, 1692, Fairfield was called upon to mourn the 
death of its second pastor, the Rev. Samuel Wakeman. His life had been 
one of great usefulness, not only in the town but in the colony. His 
opinions in the leading ecclesiastical questions of those times were sought 
and valued. Intellectually he was a man of superior ability. He possessed 
great energy of character, which was zealously and unwearingly used for 
the good of both church and state. He was highly honored and beloved 
by his parishioners, among whose descendants his memory is cherished 
to this day. It now became necessary to settle a new minister. Among 
the town records is to be found the following vote: 

"Whereas the Rev. Samuel Wakeman of Fairfield is deceased, who died on the 8. of 
March 1692, which bereavement is for a lamentation, y« said town of Fairfield for to endea- 



1692] CHURCHES, SCHOOLS, GOVERNMENT 2/1 

vor to supply in the ministry, being met together on the 31. of March 1692, do order by vote 
to nominate a person for the ministry by papers, which l^eing done tlie nomination fell to 
Mr. Harriman."* A letter of invitation was ordered to be written to this gentleman, "to 
come over (probably from New Haven) to Fairfield, for a further discourse in reference to 
settling him in the ministry.'' Nathan Gold, John Sturgis and John Osborn were appointed 
to write the letter ; and Joiin Thompson was chosen "to be sent as the messenger.'' 

In the mean time, while the town was without a settled minister, Major 
Gold was appointed, " to provide & supply for carrying on the Sabbath 
by some person or persons to preach, until some other provision to be 
made at the town's cost." It appears from the records that Mr. Samuel 
Adams, instead of Mr. Thompson, carried the letter to Mr. Harriman, and 
that he was allowed ten or twelve shillings to defray his expenses to and fro 
from New Haven. Nathan Gold, Jehu Burr, John Sturges, Sergeant Seely, 
John Osborn, and Sergeant John Thompson were appointed to discourse 
with Mr. Harriman '* in regard to his being settled in the ministry at 
Fairfield." Failing to obtain this gentleman's services, the Rev. Mr. 
Davenport of New Haven was nominated, but "the town did declare, by 
a vote, that they saw no cause to invite Mr. Davenport to settle among 
them. " At the same time it was voted " to give Mr. Joseph Webb a call, 
he declaring to their satisfaction what his practice might be as to baptism." 
At a town meeting held on the 23d of May, " the town for the accommoda- 
tion of the ministry in Fairfield," voted " to leave it to the present towns- 
men to purchase Barlow's lot, lying near the town-house, to be the parson- 
age forever, provided it can be bought for seventy pounds in pay."f On 
the 29th of July, Captain John Burr, Jonathan Gold, sr., and John Thompson 
were appointed to wait upon Mr, Webb, and upon his satisfying them 
about his views in regard to baptism, to offer him ninety pounds a year, 
with the use of the parsonage land and a house, " providing he maintain 
said house, when it is fully furnished, while he so continues a minister 
among us." 

At the same time the town granted to Mr. Chauncey, of Pequonnock, 
three acres of land on the north side of his home-lot. In case he 
died in the ministry at Pequonnock, it was to go to his heirs. On the 
9th of August following, the committee reported favorably of Mr. Webb 
to the townsmen, who had assembled at the town-house. All who were 
in favor of his being chosen pastor of Christ's Church were asked to hold 

* The Rev. John Harriman, whose father, John Harriman, was an inn-keeper in New Haven, 
married Hannah, daughter of Richard Bryan of Milford, and between 1690 and 1692 settled at 
Elizabethtown, N, J., as pastor of the church in that place. — Savage's Genealogical Dictionary. 

f B, Tov/n Votes, p. 98. 



\l 



272 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1692 

up their hands, "which," added Nathan Gold, jr., the town recorder, 
" was a full vote, a very few or none voting against it, for I observed 
& saw that none voted against it." 

Nathan Gold, Captain John Burr, and John Thompson, were appointed 
" in the name & behalf of the town to give Mr. Webb a call. Jonathan 
Morehouse & Samuel Squire were chosen to remove Mr. Webb with his 
family & goods to Fairfield at the town's cost." Under this last record is 
the following entry : "It is to be remembered that Mr. Webb & his 
family came to Fairfield, on a Thursday, at night, being the 13. of October 
1692."* From the particular attention paid to Mr. Webb's views on 
baptism, and from his church record, it is evident that a majority of 
the townsmen favored what was called the half-way covenant, which for 
many years was sanctioned by the ministers of Fairfield. By this provision 
the children of non-communicants who accepted the church covenant 
before the congregation, were baptized. 

At the May election Major N. Gold and Captain John Burr were chosen 
assistants ; Captain Mathew Sherwood and Mr. Nathan Gold f deputies, 
and Jehu Burr commissioner for Fairfield.;}: 

The French having made a descent upon Block Island during the pre- 
ceding year, caused great alarm among the people of New London, Ston- 
ington and Saybrook. In each of these places the fortifications were 
garrisoned with recruits, and put in a state of defense. Rumors that the 
French and Indians were about to cross Lake Champlain and attack the 
plantations in that region, gave rise to renewed anxieties throughout New 
England. The Assembly ordered scouts to be sent out to discover the 
approach of the enemy. The governor and any two assistants were 
appointed to manage and direct the scouts of New Haven and Fairfield 
counties. Three shillings a day was allowed a man and horse for this 
purpose. Grover's hill, at Fairfield, was probably fortified and manned 
to defend the harbors of the town. Samuel Squire was appointed at a 
town meeting held on the 17th of May "to fence across the highway by 
" Grovers Hill, so called,'" on the east side of the creek by ye creek in two. 
places, about 25 rods asunder, provided he make & maintain bars suitable 
while he so fenceth, for people, horse & cart to pass as occasion required; 
this to stand during the town's pleasure." An important vote was also 
passed at this meeting in regard to fencing the public highways. Lieuten- 
ant Hall and Sergeant John Thompson were made a committee "to settle 

* B, Town Votes, p. 98. 

f Mr. Nathan Gold was the only son of Major Nathan Gold. 

jcol. Rec. Conn., IV., 65, 66. 



i6g2] CHURCHES, SCHOOLS, GOVERNMENT 273 

or stake, or stone yc highway out, so that they may be known, specially 
at or about Pequonnock in y" woods." 

The Indian hind at Rocky neck in Sasco field at the mouth of Mill 
river, was also to be bounded out to the Indians. The point or neck of 
land on the west side of Mill river, in the Sasco field, which had been 
reserved by the town for a ship-yard, and called Joseph Palmer's neck, was 
ordered to be bounded out.* Every person owning fence in the common 
line of fence in the common field, was ordered within ten days to set a 
stake at each end of his fence in the line, with the initial letters of his 
name distinctly marked upon them. The highways, on the west side of 
Mill river were to be laid open, and made free for grazing the cattle of 
the town for six months. John Beardsley of Stratford, was invited to set 
up the trade of a smith at Fairfield. 

An unusual excitement prevailed throughout the town about this time. 
Sir William Phipps notified Governor Treat, on the 20th of June, of his 
safe arrival at Boston from England, with the Massachusetts charter, and 
of his appointment as governor of that province. He also informed him 
that he had been appointed commander-in-chief of the militia, land and 
sea forces in the colonies of New England. He requested that some per- 
son might be sent to meet him at Boston, who should be prepared to give 
an account of the militia forces, forts, etc., with the names of their 
chief ofificers, within the limits of Connecticut. Governor Treat immedi- 
ately convened the General Court, which met at Hartford on the 22d of 
June. An answer was returned to Governor Phipps' letter, in which the 
court expressed their surprise at the contents of his letter in regard to the 
army and sea forces ; but that he must be aware that under their charter, 
the government of the militia was vested in the governor and company of 
the colony, who had faithfully exercised that power; that having no direct 
orders from the king and queen of England, they knew of no better way 
to govern the colony, than that which their charter afforded ; but that 
they were willing according to the best of their ability, to contribute their 
aid to anything tending to the common safety of the country. 

Fairfield was never more astir than at this time. This new infringe- 
ment of their chartered liberties was discussed at every fireside ; Major 
Gold, now well advanced in years, with Major Burr and the deputies of 
their town, had already expressed their approval of the message sent to 
Governor Phipps, and calmly awaited further developments. A second 
cause of excitement prevailed to an alarming extent. Witches, after a 

* This neck is probably the point which lies opposite the breakwater at Soutbport. — B, 
Town Votes, p. 97. 
18 



274 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD fiSgj 

lapse of forty years, had again embodied themselves in some of the women 
of the town. Mercy Disborow of Compo, Goody Miller, goodwife Eliza- 
beth Clawson, and Mrs. Staples, had been indicted for familiarity with 
Satan. So great was the mass of evidence against them, and the number 
of witnesses so large, that at the special session of the General Court, the 
governor, deputy-governor, and assistants, numbering seven at least, 
were granted a term of oyer and terminer, at Fairfield on the second 
Wednesday in December. The coming of the governor and so many of 
the assistants, added to the prestige of the case, and probably the women, 
save Mrs. Staples, had never figured more conspicuously before the public. 
Mrs. Staples after a lapse of more than forty years since her first trial, was 
again accused of being a witch, but once more proved too clever, even for 
the governor and his seven judges. 

The supposed witches were tried before the governor and the assist- 
ants and judges of the General Court, but the jury failed to agree in ren- 
dering a verdict. An account of what had been done was related by 
Governor Treat before the General Court in October, when it was decided 
that a new trial should take place at Fairfield as soon as possible, so that 
a verdict might be obtained, upon which the court should render a final 
issue. John Wakeman and Nathaniel Burr acted as deputies at the fall 
session of the Assembly. Major Gold was granted fifteen pounds for his 
services to the colony during the year. On the 19th of September a 
special court of oyer and terminer was again held at Fairfield to try the 
women accused of witchcraft. Governor Treat, Deputy-Governor William 
Jones, Secretary John Allin, Assistants Andrew Leete of New Haven, 
John Burr of Fairfield, William Pitkin of Hartford and Moses Mansfield of 
New Haven, occupied the bench. 

The grand jurors impaneled were Joseph Bayard, Samuel Ward, 
Edward Hayward, Peter Ferris, Jonas Waterbury, John Bowers, Samuel 
Sherman, Samuel Gilpin, Ebenezer Booth, John Piatt, Christopher Corn- 
stock, and William Reed. The petit jury were James Beers, Isaac 
Wheeler, John Osborn, John Miles, Ambrose Thompson, John Hubby, 
John Bowton, Samuel Hayes, Eleazer Slawson, John Belding, John Wake- 
man, and Joseph Rowland. Mercy Disborow, Goody Miller, Elizabeth 
Slawson, and Mrs. Staples, were arraigned before this august body of 
magistrates and sworn jurors. The charges made against them were, as in 
all of the witch cases, of the most absurd character. The testimony given 
in was " very voluminous." About two hundred depositions were taken. 
The women were pronounced to be guilty of witchcraft ; but that none of 
them might suffer innocently, it was decided to try a plan, which had been 



i6g2] CHURCHES, SCHOOLS, GOVERNMENT 275 

I adopted at Hartford, of throwing them into a river or pond, under the 
superstition that if they sank under the water they were innocent of the 
I charge brought against them ; but if they floated, they were veritable 
1 witches, fit only for condemnation and death. 

Whether this test was performed at Hyde's pond, or at Edward's pond 

on the meeting house green, is not stated ; but " four witnesses swore, that 

' Mercy Disborow, being bound hand & foot & put into the water, swam 

like a cork, though one labored to press her down." Elizabeth Clawson 

also floated. 

The court again assembled at Fairfield on the 28th of October, when 
fresh testimony was taken. Elizabeth Clawson, Goody Miller, and Mrs. 
I Staples were acquitted; but Mercy Disborow was found guilty. The jury 
I were sent out a second time to reconsider their verdict ; but they returned 
! to the court room, and the foreman stated "that they saw no reason to 
i alter it, but found her guilty as before. The court approved of their 
verdict, & the governor passed upon her the sentence of death." Her 
sentence, however, v/as not satisfactory to a majority of the people in the 
town. Their zeal for hanging witches appears to have been satisfied, when 
the simple-minded woman, Goodwife Knapp, ended her life on the scaffold 
to satiate the ignorance and fanatical bigotry of her neighbors, in which 
then, as in the present instance, the leading and most learned and pious 
magistrates of the colony concurred. To the credit of the more enlight- 
ened townsmen of Fairfield, however, a petition, exhibiting considerable 
intelligence, was presented to the General Assembly in her behalf, setting 
forth weighty reasons why she should be pardoned.* The petition appears 
to have been granted, as she was living in 1707, in which year her hus- 
band's will was probated, and she is mentioned as the widow of Thomas 
Disborow. t In the summer of this year Fairfield lost another of her most 
distinguished public men, in the death of Captain Jehu Burr. The pages 
of this history give many proofs of his great usefulness in the town, in the 
General Courts, and particularly in King Philip's war, during which time 

* An account of this case of witchcraft was published in the Connecticut Mirror, The New 
York Commercial Advertiser {or July 14th and 15th, and re-printed in the A^ew York Spectator 
July i8th, and in the Times and Weekly Advertiser, of Hartford, Aug. 8th, 1820, by the late 
William L. Stone, of Hartford, then editor of the Connecticut Mirror. — Col. Rec. of Conn., IV., 
76, 77- 

\ Mercy Disborow appears to have been a daughter of the widow of the Rev. John Jones, by a 
former marriage. In a sale of land made by Thomas Disborow of Compo, about 168S, the consent 
of his mother-in-law, Susannah Jones, and that of his wife. Mercy Disborow, was obtained. Let- 
ter A, Town Deeds, p. 622. .Susannah Jones sold out her right in her husband's parsonage at 
Fairfield to Thomas Bennet, soon after Mr. Jones' death, and moved to Compo. 



2^6 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD 



[1693 



he was made a commissioner, and invested with great power. The renown 
of his family had increased in luster almost from the time of the landing 
of his father, Jehu Burr, at Boston. 

Upon due deliberation it was thought advisable to consult with Mr. 
Webb about a parsonage, and to learn if he would be willing to reside in 
the town-house. On the 2d of January his rate was fixed at "one penny 
on the pound." At the same time it was voted to give him the town- 
house " for his encouragement in the ministry in Fairfield, he relieving 
said town from finding or providing him an house to live in. He is to 
take it as it is ; & if he die in the ministry in Fairfield, said house is to be 
his own." If he left the place, then the town-house and the land belong- 
ing to it were to return to the town ; and he was to be paid back what 
money he had spent upon it. When Mr. Webb had been in Fairfield about 
a year, he received a call to another parish ; but so well satisfied were the 
townsmen with him, that, at a public meeting, held on the 7th of Decem- 
ber following, it was by vote manifested that he should continue among 
them, and take his office charge upon him, that they may be in a settled 
way, " & that he might be under a necessary tie to them in said work." 
The sum of ten pounds, ten shillings, was added to his salary '* instead of 
allowing him wood, so long as he continued in the ministry in Fairfield." 

To settle a minister in those days was an important undertaking. It 
was not a matter of a few months or a year or so, but a life settlement, " a 
necessary tieT The careful investigation made to learn the views of Mr. 
Webb on the subject of baptism, and to know that he was fully approved 
by all the town's men, commends to the present generation an example of 
wisdom, prudence, and watchful zeal for the welfare of churches, worthy 
of imitation. In the month of May the General Court, for the encourage- 
ment of learning in the colony, granted the counties of New London and 
Fairfield twenty pounds each towards maintaining grammar schools. 

The fears which had so long been entertained of a continued war with 
the French and Indians were realized, when it was learned that Count 
Frontenac had attacked the forts of the Mohawks with remarkable success, 
but having been pursued by Colonel Schuyler, of Albany, at the head of 
a brave band of two hundred English volunteers, had escaped back into 
Canada. Application from New York was made to Governor Treat to 
dispatch without delay two hundred men with arms, ammunition, and pro- 
visions to Albany for the defense of his Majesty's colonies. A General 
Court was convened at Hartford on the 21st of February, when it was 
resolved to raise 150 men, of whom, fifty were to be dragoons. Thirty-five 
of these were to be supplied from Fairfield county. John Miles, of New 



,6g3] CHURCHES, SCHOOLS, GOVERNMENT 277 

Haven, was appointed captain, James Bennit, of Fairfield, lieutenant, and 
Manassa Minor, of Stonington, ensign of the company. Captain John 
Burr was appointed commissary for Fairfield county. The troopers with 
their ofificcrs were ordered to meet at Hartford complete in their arms on 
the following day by ten o'clock in the morning, furnished and ready to 
march. A few days later, still another dispatch was sent to Governor 
Treat from Governor Phipps, demanding the assistance of one hundred 
men, and fifty Indians to defend the eastern towns, and to defeat the 
fishing and planting of the eastern Indians. A special Assembly met on 
the 6th of March, when it was voted to send Governor Phipps a company 
of sixty-four men and thirty Indians, to be placed under the command of 
Captain William Whiting, of Hartford. A garrison of forty or fifty men 
was also sent up to defend the upper river towns. An extra tax of a penny 
on the pound was levied to defray the expenses of the expedition, upon 
the credit of which the treasurer was ordered to borrow money for their 
immediate necessity. At the May election Major Gold and Captain John 
Burr were chosen assistants, Isaac Wheeler deputy, and Nathan Gold, jr., 
commissioner for Fairfield. Major Gold was appointed to administer the 
commissioner's oath to the county commissioners. 

It was during the sitting of this Assembly that the following law in 
regard to juries was passed. All juries when impaneled and sworn into 
the court, having heard the pleas and evidences for and against trials of 
capital and criminal cases, should immediately withdraw themselves into 
some convenient room or place appointed by the court, under the care of 
some fit officer ; " & there abide until they had agreed upon a verdict ; 
unless some difficult question arose about the charge given them, when 
they should be allowed to return to the court-room for further light or 
information, and immediately " return & abide in their room," until they 
had decided upon a verdict. A fine of twenty shillings was imposed upon 
any juror, warned and returned to serve on a jury, absent without giving 
good reason. A fine of twenty shillings for contempt of court was laid 
upon any person refusing to answer a summons of attachment upon his 
property, as well as the necessary costs of a hearing to the judges in 
attendance at the court for his time, etc. A law was also passed that when 
persons were imprisoned for debt or any other misdemeanor, they should 
be supplied by the person who caused them to be imprisoned, with food, 
if nothing more than bread and water, which was afterwards to be repaid to 
the plaintiff. 

For the unhappy law which required persons to be imprisoned for taxes 
or debts, the court provided a mittimus to be sent to the prison keeper, 



278 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1693 

requiring him to keep them in prison. No execution for the future was to 
be considered legal " on any other estate, but as in a late law about rates, 
wherein lands were exempt."* Executors and administrators were 
allowed 2s. 6d. for every estate of fifty pounds; 5^. for estates not exceed- 
ing £200, and 10^. all above ;^200. 

Again the military officers of Fairfield shared with those of the other 
towns in the colony, a further cause of righteous indignation, in a demand 
for their control by Colonel Fletcher, who had been appointed governor of 
New York. He arrived from England on the 29th of August, 1692, vested 
with plenary power for commanding the whole militia, of Connecticut, New 
York, Pennsylvania, etc. This was a new dilemma, and between the 
authority given Governor Phipps and Governor Fletcher, the colony 
seemed in a fair way to be drained of its militia as well as of its wealth. 
As Governor Fletcher insisted upon assuming the authority with which he 
was vested, Governor Treat assembled the General Court at Hartford on 
the first of September. John Wakeman and Isaac Wheeler represented 
Fairfield. A memorial with two thousand one hundred and eighty signa- 
tures was presented to the Assembly, requesting that their Majesties be 
petitioned for the control of their militia and their chartered privileges; 
and that each town should share the expense of sending an agent to 
England. Major Fitz John Winthrop was chosen for the undertaking, 
and the Rev. Gordon Saltonstall of New London was invited to accompany 
him. t 

A penny on the pound was levied on the towns of the colony to defray 
the expense of sending Major Winthrop to England, by the 20th of Sep- 
tember at farthest. An agent was also sent to New York, to seek 
reconciliation with Governor Fletcher. The Assembly met again on the 
I2th of October. Major Gold, as assistant, John Wakeman and Nathaniel 
Burr were present from Fairfield. Major Gold was granted 15 pounds 
for his good services during the year. A tax of ^d. on the pound was 
levied to defray the current expenses of the colony, which, with the army 
taxes, amounted to 6d. on the pound. It was about the 23d of the month, 
while the Assembly was still in session, that Governor Fletcher addressed 
a letter to them from New Haven. He had landed at New Haven, and 
sent a messeger forward, requesting the court not to adjourn until he 

* A law was passed in Oct., 16S2, exempting land from execution, while there was personal 
estate to cover the debt ; nor could an execution be served between May and November, except 
for rates and fines. — Col. Rec. of Conn., III., no. 

f State Archives, Foreign Correspondence, II., 39, 40. Col. Rec. Conn., IV., loi, 102. 
Trumbull's Hist of Conn., I.. 411, 412. 



i693l CHURCHES, SCHOOLS, GOVERNMENT 2/9 

should arrive at Hartford. He had sent his horses by another sloop, and 
was hourly expecting them. On the 26th he arrived at Hartford and sent 
a letter by Colonel Bayard to the Assembly, in which he styled himself 
"Their Majesties' Captain General & Governor in Chief, in, & over the 
Provinces of New York, Pennsylvania, &c. ; & Commander in Chief of 
the militia, & of all the forces, by sea & land, within their majesties colony 
in Connecticut, & of all the forts & places of strength within the same." 
He demanded a speedy surrender of the militia of the colony, and ordered 
out the militia of Hartford, that he might drum up recruits. The 
Assembly insisted that the militia was under their command ; nevertheless 
the train-bands were summoned out. Again Fletcher addressed a letter 
to the Assembly, assuring them that he had no designs whatever upon 
their civil rights, and " that he would not set a foot out of the colony 
until he saw obedience paid to his commission " by all such as were loyat 
subjects of their Majesties ; promising he would distinguish those who 
acknowledged his authority. Governor Treat was tendered a commission 
for the command of the militia of Connecticut, which he refused to accept, 
and with the Assembly sent a reply, that not having received orders from 
their Majesties to surrender their chartered liberties, they conceived their 
duty to the king and queen, as well as to themselves, " to continue the 
militia as formerly, till, by their agent, then on his way to England, they 
should receive further orders " direct from William and Mary. They 
assured him that they were willing to render every possible assistance in 
the defense of their Majesties' colonies ; and that although, besides the loss 
of lives, they had already expended about Jive thousand poiinds for the de- 
fense of Albany, they were yet willing to grant six hundred pounds more. 
Meanwhile the train-bands assembled, and the tradition is, that while 
Captain Wadsworth was exercising the men in military drill, Governor 
Fletcher ordered his commission to be read. Colonel Wadsworth immedi- 
ately commanded, '^ Beat the drums ! " at which the drummers filled the 
air with a deafening roar. Governor Fletcher shouted, " Silence !" and 
again attempted to read ; when Colonel Wadsworth shouted, " Drum, drum 
I say ! " The drummers instantly beat with their utmost skill. Again 
Governor Fletcher commanded " Silence ! " With a stern and angry 
countenance, and tones not to be misunderstood. Colonel Wadsworth once 
more gave the command, " Drum, drum I say ! " and turning to Governor 
Fletcher he said, " If I am interrupted again, I will make the sun shine 
through you in a moment ! " Alarmed at the fire in his eyes, and by his 
resolute manner. Governor Fletcher desisted from any further efforts, 
either to read his commission or to attempt enlisting men. A large body 



28o HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1694 

of men and women, with angry, defiant looks and mutterings, caused him 
to feel that he would be safer within the limits of New York ; and he 
accordingly took leave of the invincible New Englanders with feelings of 
great indignation, and vows of future vengeance. 

In response to a letter addressed to the Assembly from King William, 
for men and arms to be sent to fortify Albany, a special court was con- 
vened on the 7th of February. Major N. Gold, Captain John Burr, and 
Nathaniel Burr were present. The offer of six hundred pounds to Colonel 
Fletcher was voted to be collected and sent without delay to Albany. A 
penny on the pound was levied upon Fairfield and the other towns for 
this purpose. Orders were issued that every town in the colony subject 
to attack from the enemy, especially the border, river and harbor towns, 
should be speedily strengthened and prepared to resist invasion. Fifty 
Taushels of wheat in each county was ordered to be gathered and made 
into biscuit, to be ready for use should any sudden emergency arise for 
sending out forces. The train-bands were to be held in readiness to pro- 
tect the towns, or to march to New York if the French, as it was feared, 
should make an attack upon the island. During the time of this war, 
Fairfield and all the seaport towns on the ocean and Long Island Sound, 
were held in constant dread of an attack from French vessels of war. 
Every vessel which appeared in sight was closely scrutinized, lest it might 
belong to the enemy. 

John Perry, the mail carrier's return from Boston and New York was 
eagerly looked for; when, in the few moments allowed him for delivering 
the mail, he gave them the latest news. Men and women gathered round 
him, some out of simple curiosity, and others to hear from those who had 
been sent to defend some one of the various posts of danger. But a few 
moments elapsed, however, when, supplied with a fresh horse, capable of 
speed, he was on full gallop for Norwalk and Stamford, or for New Haven 
and Hartford. Before another month passed, the inhabitants of Fairfield 
mourned with heart-felt grief the death of Major Nathan Gold. The 
town records give the following notice of his death : "Major Nathan Gold 
departed this life into the mansions of rest upon the Day of Rest, on the 
Sabbath, it being the 4, of March 1693/4." Almost since his coming to 
Fairfield, for nearly forty years, Major Gold had been a leader in the 
political, military, and ecclesiastical affairs of the town and colony, a father 
to the town, and it had increased in thrift and renown under his guiding 
wisdom and influence. His name for many years stood at the head of the 
list of assistant judges of the General Court. Under his supervision, band 
after band of soldiers was equipped with arms, ammunition and provisions. 



,6g4] CHURCHES, SCHOOLS, GOVERNMENT 28l 

and sent to the various fields of action to which they had been ordered. 
He saw vessels laden with supplies for these expeditions sail out of Black 
Rock, Bridgeport, and Mill River harbors for Saybrook, New London, 
Providence, Boston, and New York. In every critical emergency, either 
in foreign or domestic relations, he was called upon to take an active part. 
His native intelligence, courtly bearing, natural suavity and winning man- 
ners, made him a fit person to be sent as an ambassador, on many occa- 
sions of importance, to the councils of the courts of the neighboring colo- 
nies; and on special matters of interest to counsel with the governors of- 
New York. He was frequently made the executive head of affairs, when 
the magistrates of New York had occasion to seek for counsel and assist- 
ance from the colony ; in fact, his position as the leading judge and 
military commander of Fairfield county, was one in which he exercised an 
influence almost equal to that of the governor himself. In the largeness 
of his executive ability, and in his quick conception of the best and most 
efficient way to promote the interests of the town and colony, he stood 
unrivaled. In the functions of his numerous offices, he tempered justice 
with mercy. No man in the country was more respected or honored 
than Major Gold, and none in New England stood higher in the esteem of 
the Lords of the Council Chamber at Whitehall. As a statesman he had 
but few superiors. He was keenly alive to the perplexities involved in 
establishing a republican form of government, and was cautious to preserve 
a respectful attitude to the orders of the reigning kings, who had occupied 
the throne of England in the course of his public career. He accumulated 
a handsome fortune during his residence in Fairfield, and was the largest 
land holder, and called the richest man in the town. He was a stanch 
devotee of the Congregational church, the principles of which he defended 
with the earnestness and zeal of the times in which he lived. He abhorred 
Popery, and was a bitter opponent of the Church of England. 

Every tribute of respect was paid to the memory of this remarkable man, 
so much honored and beloved at home and by multitudes throughout the 
country. The day on which he died was made one of deep lamentation in the 
church in which he had worshiped for forty-four years. Two funeral sermons 
were preached by the Rev. Joseph Webb, one in the morning and one in 
afternoon of the following Sunday, from the 14th verse of the i^tla chapter 
of II. Kings : " Now Elisha was fallen sick of his sickness whereof he died. 
And Joash the king of Israel came down unto him & wept over his face, & 
said, O my father! my father! the chariot of Israel, & the horsemen 
thereof ! "* 

* A manuscript of these sermons is in the possession of Mrs. Elizabeth Gould of Fairfield ; a 
descendant of Major Nathan Gold. 



282 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD 



[1694 



At the May election Captain John Burr was chosen assistant, Samuel 
Wakeman and Eliphalet Hill deputies, and Nathan Gold, jr., Captain 
Mathew Sherwood and Samuel Wakeman, commissioners for Fairfield. By- 
order of the kmg and queen, new post ofifice regulations were established 
for conveying as speedily as possible, letters and packages throughout New 
England for the special service of their Majesties. Persons employed by 
the post-master general in the various post towns in the colony, were 
given liberty to pass and repass ferries free of expense. 

For the maintenance of the public forts in the colony, it was ordered, 
that every vessel of over eight tons weight entering a harbor protected by 
a fort, to load or unload, should pay to the officer in command a quarter 
of a pound of powder for every ton. Vessels in the service of the king 
and queen of England, entering for wood and water were exempt from this 
rule, provided they remained but forty-eight hours, unless prevented from 
leaving by a stress of weather. Vessels frequently passing and re-passing 
were only required to be cleared twice a year. This was called powder 
money. Joseph Bastard of Fairfield, was made one of a committee to 
audit the colony accounts. 

The year of 1694 was a memorable one to all the planters of Connecti- 
cut. Major-general Winthrop, reached England in safety, and was so 
fortunate after presenting his petition of the Assembly to the lords of the 
council chamber, as to succeed in having a carefully written statement of 
the case of Connecticut laid before the king. The main features of the 
charter were duly set forth, especially the right vested in the governor to 
control its militia ; that the king's lieutenants could only draw out a certain 
part of the militia in proportion to its numbers and wealth; that to act 
otherwise was to deprive the people of their freedom, which ought to be 
regulated by an act of Parliament ; for which reason it was argued, that 
Colonel Fletcher's commission ought to be restricted by the laws of Con- 
necticut, so long as they were not repugnant to the laws of England. It 
was further argued that it was impossible for any one belonging in another 
colony or province, to judge of the condition and ability of each town, 
as could a military ofBcer who lived in the colony ; nor was it possible for 
a stranger to exert as much influence among the soldiers as one who had 
lived among them, for whom, as one of their own, they entertained those 
natural feelings of pride and affection, which would stimulate them to 
serve the interests of his Majesty in time of need. 

The king's attorney and solicitor-general gave their opinions in favor 
of the chartered rights of Connecticut, which vested the control of the 
militia in the governor. It was decided that the quota of Connecticut 



1694] CHURCHES, SCHOOLS, GOVERNMENT 283 

during the war should be one hundred and twenty men, who should be 
under the command of Colonel Fletcher; but that the militia of the colony 
should be under the command of the governor of Connecticut. 

At the solicitation of the governors of Massachusetts and New York, 
that Connecticut would send agents and a company of troops to join their 
agents at Albany, for the purpose of renewing the old league of friend- 
ship with the Five Nations, the governor and council dispatched Lieuten- 
ant-Colonel Allyn and Captain Stanley, with a guard of sixty dragoons, 
commanded by Captain Wadsworth, to attend the council. The money 
expended in this expedition cost the colony ^^4,000, of which Fairfield bore 
her just proportion. A tax of 3^. on the pound was levied on all the towns, 
to defray the expenses of the colony. 

Captain John Burr was appointed sergeant-major of Fairfield county. 
This additional honor to those he had already acquired, was paid him but 
a few days before his death, which occurred on the i6th of the month, 
while still in the prime of his life and usefulness. The valuable services 
rendered to the town, and colony and to the country in Philip's and the 
French and Indian wars, by Major Burr, have been so thoroughly inter- 
woven in the pages of this work, that a greater eulogy of him as a states- 
man, judge and soldier, need not be offered here. His death, with that 
of his brother, Jehu Burr, in 1692, of the Rev. Samuel Wakeman, the 
same year, and that of Major Gold in March of this year, deprived Fair- 
field of four of her ablest and most honored citizens. 

On the 28th of December, Queen Mary died of small-pox. The respect 
entertained for her in New England was very great, and her untimely 
death was made an occasion of public manifestations of sorrow and 
sympathy for the king, in Fairfield, and in every town in the colony. 

The first extant parish records, which commenced with the Rev. 
Joseph Webb's ministry, this year, explain the views of the Fairfield peo- 
ple as to baptism, and their desire to become acquainted with the opinion 
he entertained upon the subject. Mr. Trumbull states " that notwith- 
standing the result of the synod of 1662, & the various attempts which had 
been made to introduce the practice of what was termed " Oivning the 
covenant,'' it was not generally observed until 1696. In Fairfield, how- 
ever, it was used by Mr. Webb immediately after entering upon the care 
of the parish. A Retiezval of the Covenant, is found in the early pages of 
Mr. Webb's record, by which "the children of parents who did not enter 
into full communion " were baptized. The birth and marriage records, 
however, were still kept by the town recorder. This Renewal of the 
Covenant was not always the same in power; but the synod allowed the 



284 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1694 

churches to adapt their form of covenant to the special circumstances of 
each church." * The covenant used by Mr, Webb vv'as probably the same 
as the one found in the Green's farms and Greenfield parish records, 
which is as follows : 

"We do in the humble sense of our deep unworthiness of an acknowledgement in 
y^ Covenant of divine grace, & also our inability unto the performance of y^ duty of y^ holy 
covenant, through y^ strength & grace of Christ alone, heartily & sincerely engage & 
promise in y= presence of God &: his people, denying all ungodliness & worldly lusts, to 
live soberly, righteously & Godly in this present world, solemnly devoting ourselves & our 
seed unto y<= Lord to be his people; avouching Almighty God for our God & portion; 
avouching the Lord Jesus Christ for our Prophet & Teacher, & for our only Priest & 
Propitiation, & for our only King, Lord & Lawgiver; avouching y« Holy Ghost for our 
sanctifier, professing our subjection to y« Gospel of Christ, & y' we will walk together in a 
companionable attendance upon all y^ ordinances of y<= Gospel, & in a member-like Com- 
munion, happiness & watchfulness." 

" The practice of owning the Covenant by people," says Mr. Trumbull, 
" & offering their children in baptism, was in time gradually introduced 
into most of the churches in the colony. It became a custom for the 
ministers & deacons to pay annual visits to every family in the town, & to 
warn all young people before marriage, to publicly subscribe or own the 
covenant ; " but this was more generally done after they became parents, 
and wished to have baptism administered to their children, " though 
they made no profession of religion, & neglected the Lord's supper & 
other duties, peculiar to members in full commimion ; " and this was 
called the halfway covenant. 

"The practice of relating of christian experiences, & admitting none to full commun- 
ion but such as appeared to be christians indeed, yet prevailed ; but the number of 
church members, in full communion, was generally small. In those churches, where 
owning the covenant was not practiced, great numbers of children were unbaptized." t 

After the renewal of the covenant in 1694 by many in Mr. Webb's 
church, follows other names of persons who recognized their baptismal 
engagements. In the '■'■ Record of Baptisms " families of children were bap- 
tized at one time, as for instance : " Joseph, Richard, Jonathan & Sarah," 
the children of Richard and Sarah Ogden ; — '• Mary, Abigail, Susanna & 
Elizabeth," children of Abraham Adams. 

At the sitting of the General Court in May, " Upon the humble 
request of Fairfield, alias Paquanaug, that they might have liberty to 

* Trumbull's Hist. Conn., I., 325-327, 497. Magnalia, B. V., p. 98. 
f Trumbull's Hist. Conn., I., 498. 



1695] CHURCHES, SCHOOLS, GOVERNMENT 285 

join themselves in church order," the Court having considered their 
motion, granted their request : 

" They proceeding in an orderly way, witii the approbation of neigliboring churches ; 
& this court desire they may have the blessing of God accompanying their good endeavors 
therein ; & the Court do grant that the name of Paquanage shall be altered & for the future 
it shall be called Fairfield Village, & whereas they have desired liberty to choose a Soci- 
ety recorder, this Court understanding not their end therein, they belonging & being of 
the towns of Fairfield & Stratford, & there being recorders there according to law, this 
Court see no need of any others, but leave them at liberty to make record of their own 
particular affairs, as they see cause, &: appoint who they judge most suitable to make 
these records, always provided that the recorder of Fairfield, is the only proper recorder 
of Fairfield & the village, so far as their bounds goes." 

As a part of the village was composed of the planters living on the east 
side of the division line between Pequonnock and Stratford, it was for 
many years called the east parish, and the Fairfield side the west parish. 
According to the wishes of the parish the Rev. Charles Chauncey now 
became the first regularly sanctioned pastor of Fairfield village. At the 
October Assembly, for the satisfaction of such as were conscientiously 
desirous of being married by their minister, liberty was granted to or- 
dained ministers of the several plantations in the colony, "to join in mar- 
riage such persons as were qualified for the same, according to law." 

During the following spring, particular attention was paid to laying out 
lands to the several owners of Sasco-hill ; and care taken to preserve the 
highways running across the hill to Kensey's point, and across the new 
bridge to the main street in Fairfield. Joseph Bastard, Robert Rumsie, 
and John Bulkley, were appointed to renew the bounds of the Mile of 
Common and to stake out the highways and lands belonging to the town, 
by setting up mere-stones. Highways were also laid out at Fairfield 
woods, at which place was a noted wolves' swamp. 

At the May election Nathan Gold, the only son of Major Nathan Gold, 
was advanced to the office of an assistant judge of the General Court, to 
supply the place of Major John Burr. Nathaniel Burr and Lieutenant 
James Bennet were elected deputies ; and Captain John Wakeman and Cap- 
tain Mathew Sherwood commissioners. The law passed in 1682, restricting 
the orders of execution of fines, etc., between the first of May and the first 
of November, was repealed, and it was now made legal to issue writs of 
execution at any time in the year. Instead of estates under execution 
being sold at an outcry, it was ordered that they should from hence- 
forth be sold only after an appraisal, rates and fines excepted. Joseph 
Bastard was again appointed one of a committee to audit the accounts 
of the treasurer of the colony. 



286 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD 



[1695 



Owing to the increase of intemperance among all classes, a law was 
passed restricting the sale of liquors and wines, strong beer, and even 
cider, to such only as were licensed to entertain strangers and travelers, 
under a fine of 20s. for each offense. A license could be obtained only 
from the county court, under a bond of ten pounds, for keeping order 
and good conduct. An addition was made to the powder money law, 
which obliged all masters of vessels, except such as belonged to the 
colony, " before they broke bulk," to enter their vessels in the office of 
the port of entrance, and give a correct measurement " from stem to 
stern, breadth & depth, from the under side of the beam to the ceiling, 
the length to be accounted no more than the length of the keelson, & 
to divide it by a hundred." Before they left port, they were required 
to pay half a pound of powder or one shilling in money for every ton 
according to this measure. If a master of any vessel did not obey this 
rule, the gunner of the fort thus defied, was ordered to fire upon him ; 
" first, to fire over his masts," and if he did not then come to anchor " to 
fire a second athwart his forefoot ; " and if he still refused to anchor, " to 
fire a third shot with endeavors to strike his masts," and " do further dam- 
age if necessary." For every shot thus fired, a fine of ten shillings was 
ordered to be paid by the ship-masters to the gunner, in part for his own 
use, and in part for the use of the fort, to be paid to the lieutenant in 
charge, for the purchase of necessary ammunition. Vessels belonging to 
the colony sailing out of any port, were exacted to take out passes, 
deliver them to the gunner, and pay accordingly. 

At the October sitting of the Assembly, Nathan Gold was appointed 
captain, and John Osborn lieutenant of the Fairfield train-band. Ferry 
tolls were regulated. Every single man crossing the Stratford ferry, lead- 
ing over the Housatonic river, was required to pay three pence in county 
pay, or two pence in money ; and for a horse and load, six pence county 
pay, or three pence in money. The repeal of the famous bolting and 
baking act in New York, led the Assembly to pass a law prohibiting the 
transportation of grain and flour out of the colony for one year, under a 
penalty of forfeiting the whole. By the repeal of the bolting and baking 
act, the sale of flour and bread was thrown open to the public. Private 
farmers ground their own flour, and sold it to speculators, who sent it out 
of the country, or sold it to pirates. New York was threatened with a 
famine; and fears were entertained that the drain upon Connecticut 
would bring about a like result within the colony. 

Piracy, which had existed for many years, had increased to an alarm- 
ing extent, so that it became as necessary for vessels to carry guns and 



1695] CHURCHES, SCHOOLS, GOVERNMENT 287 

ammunition, as it was to supply the forts and principal ports with means 
of defense. Privateers, with and without licenses, roved the seas, and 
preyed upon the commerce of all nations, not even that of England 
excepted ; in fact, privateers sent out under commissions from the king 
of England to intercept the commerce of France, turned pirates, seized, 
plundered, and sunk every vessel that crossed their track. It was not 
until commerce was almost destroyed, that the lords of trade and nav- 
igation awoke to the perils of the situation. Even private citizens, and 
men of wealth, both in England and America, were accused of complicity 
with the pirates which infested the Indian Ocean, in accumulating prop- 
erty in this atrocious manner. Gold coin, luxuriant silks, satins, and vel- 
vets, with other elegancies, were freely brought into this country. Men 
hitherto in moderate circumstances, erected fine mansions, and in conse- 
quence, became the subjects of envy and suspicion. 

The destruction of a ship of the Mogul in the Indian Ocean, laden 
with presents to Mecca, caused that monarch to threaten to take out let- 
ters of reprisal against all English vessels. It became necessary that 
England should send, without delay, a man-of-war to protect her com- 
merce, and to capture vessels of a piratical character, but the appropria- 
tions of Parliament had almost exhausted the public treasury. In this 
emergency, the king proposed to make it a private undertaking, and prom- 
ised iJ"3,ooo. Lord Somers and the Earls of Rumsey, Oxford, Bellomont, 
and Robert Livingston of New York, then in England, contributed the 
whole ^6,000, the king failing to advance the amount he had promised. 
Robert Livingston recommended, and introduced Captain Kidd as a 
brave man, well fitted to command the expedition, and well acquainted 
with the eastern seas, and the haunts of the pirates. Kidd was furnished 
with a commission under the great seal of England, giving him authority 
to capture all vessels of a piratical character, in whatever place he should 
find them. Livingston and Kidd signed a bond to Lord Bellomont, in 
which it was stipulated, that all prizes and effects taken belonged to the 
parties who fitted out the expedition, should be at their disposal, after 
allowing one-tenth for the king. A great deal of fault was afterwards 
found with this arrangement, but the expediency of the undertaking 
served as ground to justify the resolution, for the protection of those who 
had thus ventured their property for the public safety. That it turned 
out as it did, however, is not at all remarkable. With a fast sailing ship, 
well armed and equipped, Kidd set sail on the i6th of April ; and, after 
tarrying a few days at New York, where he took in ninety more men, he 
passed out into the ocean. Instead, however, of capturing pirates and 



288 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1695 

carrying them to England, he became the most notorious pirate of the 
times. 

Captain Kidd is described as having been an intelHgent, cultivated 
man of pleasing address, and up to the time of engaging in this expedi- 
tion, regarded as thoroughly trustworthy. He had married in 1691 Sarah 
Oort, the beautiful and cultivated young widow of a fellow officer. At 
the time of his sailing for the eastern ocean, he was living in comfortable 
circumstances with his wife and a lovely little daughter in Liberty street, 
New York. When it was discovered a few years later that Kidd had 
turned pirate and was sailing under the black flag, every one connected 
with the undertaking, not even the king of England excepted, was charged 
with complicity in his piratical deeds for their private enrichment ; and 
every valuable jevv'el or ornament worn, was supposed to be connected 
with some frightful story of wretched captives and horrible deaths. The 
wildest stories of his daring deeds and of his acts of cruelty to men and 
to the women whom he captured, in putting them to death, or obliging 
them to walk a plank into the sea, that their end might never be known, 
was the theme of public and private gatherings, until his name became a 
terror alike to people on land and on the seas. He was finally taken cap- 
tive at Boston by an order from Lord Bellomont, the governor of New 
York, and sent to England for trial. He was there condemned and exe- 
cuted on the 1 2th of May, 1701. Songs were sung on board ship and in 
taverns of his deeds of courage and cruelty, and of his vast accumulations 
of gold and precious stones, which, it was believed, he had buried in chests 
on the shores and islands of the ocean, Long Island and Connecticut. 

A tradition exists that one of Kidd's rendezvous in the summer was a 
point on Sherwood's Island at Green's farms, and there is some ground 
for this tradition, from the fact that the little island lying west of it has 
been made a resort from time to time of many persons, who believed that 
he had buried a large amount of gold there. The island bears traces here 
and there of deep holes, which have been dug with the hope of finding 
some one of his numerous chests of gold.* At Black Rock repeated 
searches have been made for Kidd's treasures, and also at Berkshire, a ham- 
let about two miles north of Bridgeport, f 

* Stratford Point has also been made a frequent place of resort, especially at night, for the same 
purpose. 

f In 1884 a gang of Italians, while excavating for the Olmstead parallel railroad near the head 
of the Pequonnock river, where there was once a famous shipyard, in picking between the rocks, 
found a powder horn tipped with silver and covered with hieroglyphics, containing some old 
English coins, a Spanish doubloon, and an old parchment. The Berkshire people believed that the 
Italians found a large amount of gold, which Kidd had buried. — Author. 



J696] CHURCHES, SCHOOLS, GOVERNMENT 289 

By an order of the king, in the month of February the governor and 
council of Connecticut passed an act that all deserters from his Majesty's 
ships of war and garrison?, as well as all pirates and suspicious persons, 
should be seized, examined and returned to the governor of New York, 
the authorities in Albany, or wherever they belonged. Masters of vessels 
were also requested to give bonds for the safe delivery of grain and wheat, 
not only in the ports of the colony, but in the ports of any one of the 
colonies, and make returns of such deliveries or forfeit their bonds. At 
the May election Captain Gold was re-elected an assistant of the Assembly, 
John Wakeman and Joseph Lockwood, deputies, and Captain Mathew 
Sherwood and John Wakeman, commissioners for Fairfield. 

Upon the solicitation of Colonel Fletcher for help in the defense 
of Albany, the Assembly granted a company of sixty men to be levied 
out of the several towns, and placed under the command of Captain 
William Whiting, to be forwarded without delay. To encourage the 
soldiers, it was voted that if the king's pay fell short of the accustomed 
pay of the colony, it should be made up to them out of the colony 
treasury. 

The embargo laid upon grain and flour was ordered to remain in force 
until June of the following year. Captain John Wakeman of Fairfield was 
made one of a committee, to advise with the Assembly in the political and 
prudential affairs of the colony for the promotion of trade, and in making 
new laws and altering others for the benefit of the colony. Debts on 
account, which were by a former law outlawed in three years, were now 
made good for seven years, except in the case of deceased persons. 

A greater valuation was placed upon money. Pieces of eight, weigh- 
ing seventeen pennyweight, were to be valued at six shillings nine pence, 
and " pieces of different weight to be valued accordingly in proportion to 
their weight ; eight pence bitts to pass for nine pence ; double such bitts 
for eighteen pence." 

Widows, whose husbands had died intestate, were granted not only 
one-third of their real estate, according to a former law, but one-third of 
their personal property. Foreigners coming into the towns of the colony 
to trade, were required to give an invoice of their goods to the magistrates, 
and pay two pence on their market value to the public treasury of the 
colony, under a penalty of forfeiting their goods. Captain Jonathan 
Selleck, of Stamford, was appointed and commissioned sergeant-major of 
Fairfield county. A tax of a half penny on a pound was levied on all the 
towns, to pay the sum of two hundred and sixty pounds to the heirs of 
John Sad, which the colony had borrowed " for the service of the country." 
19 



290 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [i6g5 

At a town meeting at Fairfield in May, it was voted to build a bridge over 
the Mill creek. 

At a meeting of the governor and council on the 30th of May, it was 
ordered, that the king's proclamation for keeping the third Wednesday in 
June a day of public thanksgiving, for the deliverance of his sacred person 
from a conspiracy against his life, should be observed throughout the 
colony.* It was also ordered, that the king's proclamation for the appre- 
hension of persons accused of high treason, should be publicly read in the 
several county towns of the colony without delay. 

Governor Fletcher took occasion at this time to manifest his power 
under his commission, by making frequent demands upon Connecticut for 
troops, to be forwarded for the protection of Albany and the frontier 
towns. The whole colony was kept in a constant state of excitement by 
couriers dispatched to Governor Treat, with fresh alarms of supposed 
invasions by the French, either by sea or land. On the 2d of August, 
Fletcher sent in great haste for assistance, as the French were marching 
to attack the friendly Indians and Albany. The governor and council met 
on the 7th, and ordered that the several constables of the counties of 
Hartford, New Haven, and Fairfield should impress men out of the planta- 
tions and prepare them, with arms complete and fully equipped, to march 
upon the first call of the governor. Horses were also ordered to be 
impressed as far as Kinderhook, with "saddle & bridle fit for service, & 
knapsacks, biscuit & cheese for the march to Albany." 

From advice from the lords of the king's council, that the French were 
about preparing ships of war to sail for America, the secretary was 
instructed to notify the field ofificers in each county in the colony, to advise 
with the assistants or magistrates of the several towns, as to the best way 
to place themselves in a posture of defense ; that every soldier should be 
fully armed and equipped for every possible emergency ; and one-half of 
every train-band made ready to march for the defense of his majesty's 
subjects. It was voted that an act passed in April for preventing frauds, 
regulating abuses in trade, encouraging navigation and securing the plan- 
tation trade to the kingdom of England, should be published in the several 
counties. 

A copy of the bill of association, passed by Parliament on the 23d 
of February for avenging the king's death, if he died at the hands of an 

*Col. Rec. Conn., IV., 171. 

A conspiracy against the throne and life of King William was detected in February. The 
principal agent was Sir George Barclay, a Scotch officer. The conspirators were soon after con- 
demned to death. — Hume. 



,6g6] CHURCHES, SCHOOLS, GOVERNMENT 29I 

assassin or in an untimely way, and confirming the crown of England upon 
King William and his heirs, was signed by all the members of the council 
who were present (August 7), and by the General Assembly in October. 
Again on the 2d of September, Fletcher sent in great haste to Governor 
Treat for sixty more men, as he had received fresh news that Count Fron- 
tenac had orders from the king of France to attack Albany. At the 
October session of the Assembly, a rate of two pence on the pound was 
levied to defray the expenses of the colony. It was ordered that all money 
debts of the colony should be paid in money; and all other debts due by 
the colony should be paid in county or provision pay, /. c, two-thirds in 
money and one third in grain or provisions at the following rates, viz.: 
Indian corn, 2s. per bushel, peas, 3.?. per bushel, rye, 2s. 6d. per bushel, 
winter wheat, 4s. per bushel, pork, 15^-. per barrel, beef, 30^-. per barrel. 

The rule for encouraging and bringing money into the colony, passed 
in May, was made more explicit. Pieces of eight and lesser money were 
to be Mexican, civil or pillar (Spanish) money. It was also ordered that 
good Peru pieces of eight should pass for five shillings per piece, and lesser 
pieces in proportion. Contracts made before the passage of this act were 
to hold good, and be paid according to agreement. That justice might 
be done to persons whose estates were under execution, appraisers were 
required to take an oath for the just valuation of the same. A tax of 
two hundred pounds was levied on all the towns to defray the expenses of 
Major-General Winthrop, as agent of the colony to England. The assist- 
ants of Hartford were authorized to convert the money raised by sending 
it to Boston to be exchanged into English money. A committee was 
appointed to frame an address to the king on behalf of the colony, and 
also to send a letter to Winthrop. A committee was also appointed to 
revise the laws of the colony. 

In consideration of the manifold providences of God, in protecting the 
colony from the malice of enemies ; the prevalence of general good 
health, an abundant supply of harvest and the fruits of the earth, and the 
preservation of the life of the king, the first day of November was set 
apart as a day of thanksgiving in all the towns in the colony. 

In addition to the men already sent from Connecticut, Colonel 
Fletcher was granted twenty-five men in November, to be divided among 
the three companies sent to the frontiers until May. The constant drain 
of men and money upon the colony at every rumor Fletcher received of the 
approach of the French, led the governor and council to meet in Decem- 
ber, and order a statement of what they had done towards supplying him 
with soldiers for the defense of Albany, of which he made but small 



292 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1697 

account, to be sent to their agent in Englan^d, showing that since 1688 the 
colony had expended in paying, equipping, and providing for troops to be 
sent to the neighboring colonies, £7,7^9, i^^"-. 9d., out of which ^^5,804, 
1 1^, was sent to Albany. A bill which was presented to the General Court 
in 1690 for the maintenance of ministers, was again brought before the 
court, when the following law was passed : 

"The Court seeing the importance of establishing a competent & certain main- 
tenance for the ministers of the gospel, which are now or hereafter shall be through the 
mercy of Almighty God vouchsafed to dispense his holy word & ordinances in our sev- 
eral plantations be duly stated & settled, & observing how much hindrance is in many 
ways given to the dispensation of gospel ordinances, & further like to grow in upon us if 
a timely remedy be not provided, have judged it their duty to order & appoint . . . 
that from the publication hereof the several towns in the colony shall respectively pay unto 
the respective ministers in said towns, or plantations, for the time being who dispense the 
gospel in the said plantations, & are according to the good laws of this colony settled or 
called to preach the word there, annually the several sums or payments, which are or 
shall be agreed upon by the several towns, plantations or societies, & the ministers in 
them ; which sums or payments in each town or society shall be levied or assessed on 
the several plantations, according to their respective estates, as from time to time they 
shall be in the general list or lists of the persons & estates of the inhabitants of each town 
or plantation, & in such specie, viz.: wheat, Indian corn, rye & pork, & in such propor- 
tion & prices of ye specie as shall from year to year be settled by the General Court for the 
payment of ministers' rates, or in money, which said sums or payments shall be collected 
by such person or persons as the respective towns shall from year to year choose & 
appoint to that end." It was at the same time made a law " that if any of the towns of 
this Colonic, shall be for any year or years, without a minister preaching the gospel to 
them, such town or towns shall in the said year or years, notwithstanding, pay the sums 
or payments, or as the General Court shall appoint, as if there were a minister there. 
The county courts shall dispose & improve the said sums for the use of the ministry in 
that town where it is collected, as soon as an opportunity can be had for it, according to 
the discretion of the said Court " . . . " any former law, custom or usage to the contrary 
notwithstanding." 

Captain Nathan Gold was appointed one of a committee to consider 
the printed laws concerning the maintenance of ministers and to assist in 
their revision. In case any one refused to pay towards the salary of the 
minister, his estate was to be levied upon, " & that no replevin should be 
granted whatever." * 

It appears that the ministers of Fairfield county were dissatisfied with 
the law for their maintenance, they not approving of being assessed for 
their own support. The clause that the towns were to pay annually to the 
support of a minister of the established church of the colony, led many to 

* Col. Rec. Conn., IV., 198, 200. 



,697] CHURCHES, SCHOOLS, GOVERNMENT 293 

conclude, that they were to meet annually and fix upon a yearly stipend, 
in consequence of which all former agreements with their ministers were 
supposed to be null and void. The General Court soon overcame this idea, 
by wholly repealing that clause, and soon after the clause " in such 
specie, viz. : wheat, indian corn, rye & pork, in such proportion & prices 
of the specie, as shall from year to year be settled by the General Court 
for the payment of the minister's rate," was also repealed. 

Captain Gold was about this time made a member of the council, and 
was present at the meeting of the governor and council at Hartford on the 
19th of January following. The assembling of the council was in part 
from solicitations from Fletcher for troops, and also to send instructions 
to Winthrop to use every possible influence to have the boundary lines 
of the colony defined on the Massachusetts and Rhode Island borders, as 
well as on that of New York. The inhabitants of Rye and Bedford had 
petitioned for, and been granted a patent of their lands from the Assembly 
of Connecticut. Against this invasion of his territories, Fletcher soon 
after strongly objected. 

Owing to a great scarcity of grain in Massachusetts, the leading min- 
isters and gentlemen of that colony addressed a letter on the i8th of 
February to the governor and council asking for relief, especially for the 
poorer northern towns, which were in danger of a famine. The council 
met on the 6th of March, and ordered that a letter be addressed to the 
ministers of the several towns in the colony, to call upon their congrega- 
tions to contribute to their Christian friends and brethren in distress, " a 
suitable relief in such proportions as God had blessed them." Agents 
were appointed in each county for this purpose. Captain Gold was 
appointed for Fairfield county, to receive ships, and to consign the respect- 
ive contributions of each town to Captain Sewel, and the revered elders 
of Boston, appointed to receive the same. The whole amount contributed 
was ^^172, $s. 6d. 

There was so little powder in the colony at this time, that in March 
Mr. Thomas Trowbridge of New Haven was commissioned to procure 
eight barrrels, one and a half barrels of which was to be distributed to 
Fairfield county. At the May election Captain Gold was chosen an 
assistant, John Wakeman and Lieutenant James Bennet deputies, John 
Wakeman commissioner for Fairfield, and Captain Mathcw Sherwood 
commissioner for Fairfield village. The act for regulating the value of 
money having proved " more injurious than profitable," was repealed. 
The act prohibiting the transportation of wheat out of the colony was also 
repealed. For his services as surgeon in the war. Dr. Isaac Hall of Fair- 



294 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1697 

field, petitioned the Assembly for liberty to purchase two hundred and 
fifty acres of land of the' natives in the colony. The Assembly granted 
him one hundred and fifty acres, John Wakeman was commissioned lieu- 
tenant of the Fairfield train-band. 

The soldiers of Fairfield village residing on the west side of the 
Pequonnock river, were ordered to be formed into one band or company. 
John Beardsley was commissioned their lieutenant, and Isaac Wheeler 
their ensign. The soldiers living on the east side of the river were exer- 
cised under the ofificers of the Stratford train-band, namely. Lieutenant 
James Judson and Sergeant Thomas Knowles, who were also commis- 
sioned at this time. The lieutenant-governor and council of Massachu- 
setts petitioned the Assembly to raise and send a suitable number of 
men, to assist in attacking the eastern Indians at their head-quarters. Not 
feeling able to furnish an army of sufificient numbers to join in such an 
undertaking, while so many of their men were absent, a detachment of 
sixty men was sent to range the woods near the rendezvous of the enemy. 
It was voted to borrow one hundred and thirty pounds from Boston, to 
send to General Winthrop for his services. Captain Gold was added to 
the committee for revising the laws of the colony. The fort at Saybrook 
was ordered to be repaired at the cost of the colony. At the solicitation 
of Lieutenant-Governor Stoughton of Massachusetts, the governor and 
council voted to send fifty men, under the command of Captain William 
Whiting, to join an expedition sent out by King William, for the recovery 
of the Island of New Foundland, and the re-establishment of their trade 
and fisheries. Owing to a great scarcity of food in Massachusetts, it was 
voted to send provisions for the men by sea to Boston. 

At the same time Governor Fletcher sent in great haste for 120 men, 
to defend the fort at New York. He had received information that a 
considerable French fleet in the West Indies had gone in pursuit of the 
Spanish plate fleet, with orders, that if they missed of that design, to 
destroy the fort at New York. The council ordered that 120 men should 
be impressed out of Milford, Stratfield, Fairfield, Norwalk, Stamford, and 
Greenwich, to be held in readiness to march at the call of Colonel Fletcher. 
Captain Mathew Sherwood was given the command of sixty men. with 
James Judson of Stratford for his lieutenant. Captain Ebenezer Johnson 
of Derby was given the command of the other half, with Samuel Sherman 
of New Haven for his lieutenant. Two weeks passed, and as the expected 
fleet did not arrive. Colonel Fletcher wrote that the troops need not 
march to New York, until he had certain proof of their approach. In 
August he sent post haste for one hundred men, as some Indians had 



1697] CHURCHES, SCHOOLS, GOVERNMENT 295 

reported to him that when about forty-eight miles on this side of Cham- 
plain, "they heard a great noise of drums, & many canons; & that they 
did verily believe there was an army of French marching against Albany." 
The council ordered, that upon the first intelligence of the certain 
approach of the enemy, with a considerable force to destroy the town of 
Albany, or to invade his Majesty's subjects there, fifty men should imme- 
diately be sent from Hartford county, and fifty more from New Haven 
and Fairfield counties. At the October session of the Assembly, Nathan- 
iel Burr, jr., and Lieutenant John Wakeman represented Fairfield. A 
new regulation for nominating officers for the court of election was passed. 
The constables were ordered to warn the freemen, in their respective towns, 
to meet yearly at nine o'clock in the morning, on the third'Tuesday in 
September, and first choose deputies to attend the court in October next 
ensuing ; then every freeman was required " to give his vote or suffrage for 
twenty persons, (their names being fairly written upon a piece of paper)," 
for nomination for the May election. The assistants, commissioners or 
constables of each town, were required to record the names of all persons 
voted for, with the number of votes each person had, and send the same 
sealed to the General Assembly in October, by the representatives of their 
respective towns ; at which Assembly, all the votes of the freemen of the 
colony were to be compared, and the names of the twenty persons who 
had the greatest number of votes were to be returned to their several 
towns as nominees for the May election, out of which number the assist- 
ants were to be chosen. 

In addition to the fines due to the train-bands, being appropriated to 
furnishing drums and colors, in case of a deficit in money, it was voted 
that each town should make up the balance required for such purposes. 
A tax of Afd. on the pound was levied to defray the expenses of the colony, 
to be paid in money, or in good and merchantable grain. Where the 
country was indebted, only ordinary pay of two-thirds in money or 
grain, was to be made legal tender, at fixed prices, for the total of such 
debts. 

Persons who had supplied the country with grain and provisions, were 
granted 6s. per bushel for winter wheat, 3^'. 6d. per bushel for rye, 3^-. for 
Indian corn, ^^3, 5^-. per barrel for pork, £\, 5^. per barrel for beef. The 
governor installed the county majors of their respective regiments. Major 
Jonathan Selleck was installed over that of Fairfield county. Captain 
Gold was granted 40.J. in money " for his journey to Hartford to attend 
the public service, at this present session, notwithstanding he, Was necessi- 
tated, suddenly, to return home." 



296 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1698 

The first of November was appointed a day of general thanksgiving in 
the colony. 

The news of Winthrop's safe arrival at Boston on the nth of Decem- 
ber, was the cause of great rejoicing in Fairfield and all the towns in 
Connecticut. Winthrop's mission had been a most successful one. Soon 
after his arrival he wrote to Governor Treat: "The government of Con- 
necticut is well in the King's favor, & under a good opinion with the 
Lords Commissioners of Trade & Plantations." The governor and council 
met at Hartford on the iith, and appointed a committee to go to Boston 
to congratulate Winthrop on his safe arrival home, and accompany him to 
Connecticut. Three or four able horses were ordered to be provided for 
his journey. 

A special Assembly was convened on the 22d of January. Major- 
General Winthrop being present, was voted the hearty thanks of the 
Assembly. As a further testimonial of their appreciation of his services, 
a gratuity of three hundred pounds in current silver money was granted 
him. The Earl of Bellomont had been appointed governor of Massa- 
chusetts and New York, and was hourly expected to land at New 
York. It was thought advisable to pay all due respect to a gentle- 
man of his high position and friendly interest in Connecticut. Gentle- 
men of pleasing address and elegant manners, were selected to welcome 
him upon his arrival. General Winthrop, Major Jonathan Selleck, of 
Stamford, and the Rev. Gurden Saltonstall, of New London, were chosen 
" to travel to New York, & in the name of the governor, council & rep- 
resentatives of the colony, to congratulate the happie arrival of his 
excellencie." If any of these gentlemen were prevented from going, 
Captain Nathan Gold, one of the younger magistrates of the colony, was 
appointed to fill the vacancy. A vote of thanks was also to be sent to the 
lords commissioners of trades and plantations, " with their thanks to his 
Majestic for his grace towards this colony." 

A change was made in the county courts, which for the future were to 
consist of one judge and four justices of the peace ; and that the decisions 
of the judge and any three of the justices in each county should be con- 
sidered legal. Persons refusing to give testimony in criminal cases were 
ordered to be sent to the county jail, and there remain at their own cost, 
until they confessed their knowledge of the crime. An act was also 
passed for the protection of justices of the peace in the discharge of their 
duty. Also against turbulent people ; common barristers, who stirred up 
and maintained suits of law and quarrels in the courts; against persons of 
evil name and fame ; night walkers ; eaves-droppers near private houses, 



J698] CHURCHES, SCHOOLS, GOVERNMENT 297 

and disturbers of property ; drunkards, Hbelers and idlers, and abusers of 
public offices; all of which, without giving surety, were ordered to be 
committed to prison, "these to remain till delivered according to order of 
law." 

The last Wednesday in February was appointed a public day of thanks- 
giving throughout the colony, " to thank God for all His goodnesse, 
specially the restoration of Peace to the English nation, & the successe & 
safe return of Major General Winthrop." * Improvements were ordered 
on the Stratford ferry. A boat was to be kept on the east as well as west 
side of the river, of sufficient size to convey men and horses across 
comfortably. 

The winter of 1697-8 had been one of unusual length and severity. 
The summer had been cool and cloudy, and not a month without frosts. 
In Februaiy and March heavy snows fell, covering the roads and fences 
"high & hard." There was a loud cry for bread, and cattle famished and 
died in the yards from want. A distressing fever prevailed, preceded by 
an influenza, which proved very fatal. Those in health found it difficult 
to obtain fuel, to care for the sick, and to bury their dead.f Fairfield 
suffered severely from this epidemic. :}; The governor and council met at 
Hartford on the 12th of March, and appointed the fourth Wednesday in 
the month to be observed as a day of fasting and prayer throughout the 
colony, to implore the mercy of God in abating the sufferings which had 
fallen upon man and beast. The soldiers who served under Captain 
Whiting in the late campaign, " who were helpful in sending their horses 
to their fellow soldiers, were presented with a silver piece of eight out of 
the colony treasury, for the use of their horses." At the May election 
Captain Gold was elected an assistant, and Ensign Philip Lewis and 
Nathaniel Burr, representatives.§ 

A commission and oath were read and approved by the Assembly for 
justices of the peace, after which the justices for each county were elected. 
Lieutenant John Wakeman and Captain Mathew Sherwood, Major Richard 
Blackleach of Stratford and James Oimstead of Norwalk, were made 
justices of the quorum. Major Jonathan Selleck was appointed judge of 
the Fairfield county court. Captain Gold was appointed to administer 

* "The peace of Ryswick was signed September 10, 1697. Louis XIV. resigned several of 
his conquests, & recognized William King of England."' — Hume. 

t MS. of Gov. Roger Wolcott, Conn. Hist. Soc. — Col. Rec. of Conn., IV., 242. 

X " Elements of Useful Knowledge." 

§ Col. Rec. Conn., IV., 244, 245. Justices of the quorum were, under the English law, par- 
ticular justices appointed to inquire into felonies and other misdemeanors ; and no business trans- 
actions were considered legal without their presence. 



298 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1698 

the oath to the justices of the Fairfield court. Various bills were intro- 
duced, among which was a bill " of limitation of the laws of England, & 
how far they were to be m force in Coiuiecticnt ; " one for a method to raise 
money to defray the expenses of the government, and for regulating public 
expenses, and another for regulating superior and inferior courts of justice. 
The sergeant-major of each county was authorized to call the commis- 
sioned officers of his regiment together, when he deemed it expedient to 
do so, instead of calling them together once a year, to consult with them 
in managing the militia affairs of each county to the best advantage. No 
soldier was permitted to enlist in any other than the company to which he 
belonged, without the consent of his chief officer, or from the county court, 
under a penalty of forty shillings. The soldiers of train-bands were not to 
be compelled to train over four days in a year. All administrators upon 
estates were required to give bonds for the faithful discharge of their 
work. For facilitating the post deliveries and public travel, a law was 
passed requiring bridges to be erected, and the king's highways to be kept 
in good repair, zvith marks and directions for travelers zvJiere roads parted. 
The highways were always to be kept open, unless they passed through 
the ancient common fields, or the General or county court otherwise 
ordered, when the select-men of each town were to take pains in erecting 
suitable gates of egress and ingress for travelers and carriers. This law 
was to be carried out within the space of a month, under a penalty of ten 
pounds, and continued under the same penalty, to be levied on the 
inhabitants of the delinquent towns. 

To preserve deer and their young, an act was passed, that if any per- 
son between the 15th of January and the 15th of July killed a buck, doe 
or fawn, he should forfeit 20s. for the first offense, 40^". for the second, and 
£Ty for the third. In default of means to pay a fine, the transgressor was 
to work as many days as shillings covered his fine. The deputies of the 
towns were ordered to inform the Indians of this law, and endeavor to 
restrain them from breaking it. Impost on wines and liquors was 
restricted to such only as were brought from ports where they were not 
produced, and not on those imported directly from the countries in which 
they were raised. A tax of 4^. pr. gallon on wine, rum, brandy and distilled 
liquor, \2d. per barrel on cider, and 2d. pr. gallon for metheglin, was ordered 
to be paid by all retailers into the public treasury for the space of one 
year. Judges or justices were not from this time allowed to be clerks of 
the county courts. The former custom laid upon foreigners coming into 
the colony to trade in 1696, was annulled ; and the sum of \2s. 6d. upon 
every hundred pounds' worth of goods exacted of any one bringing 



j6g8] CHURCHES, SCHOOLS, GOVERNMENT 299 

goods into the colony, one-fifth of which was to be paid to the custom 
house ofificer, and the remainder to the colony treasury. It was ordered 
that the line of division between Fairfield and Norwalk agreed upon, bearing 
date December 14, 1687, given under the seal of the committee, should 
remain forever the dividing line between the two towns. 

Winthrop having returned from New York, a committee was appointed 
to wait upon him, " & in the name of the Assembly signify to him, the 
hearty desire of his presence, to come & take his place as governor of 
the colony," to which he had been elected in May. Upon coming into 
the court house (May 20), Winthrop was welcomed with every mark of 
respect and affection. The venerable Major Treat, for so many years the 
governor and military leader of the colony, now ripe with age, gracefully 
resigned his position to one he deemed so worthy to fill the office. The 
aged veteran and statesman, in the presence of the standing members of 
the Assembly, administered the oath of his office to Winthrop, who was 
immediately escorted to the governor's chair, Major Treat occupying the 
seat of the deputy-governor, to which he had been elected. Immediately 
after the adjournment of the Assembly, Governor Winthrop met with the 
council, to consult about the safe-keeping of the duplicate of the Connec- 
ticut patent. It was unanimously agreed that, " Captain Joseph Wads- 
worth should be the keeper of it," until the General Assembly or the 
council should see cause to order otherwise.* 

An important change was made in the Assembly at the October term. 
Previous to this time, the assistants and deputies or representatives acted 
as one body ; but a law was now passed according to the following rule: 

" It is ordered by this Court Or" the authority thereof, thai for the future this GeW" 
Assembly shall coftsist of two houses, the first shall consist of the Governr, or in his 
absence of tJie Deputy Govern'', &" Assistants, which shall be known by the name of 
the Upper House ; the other shall consist of such Deputies as shall be legally re- 
turned from the severall townes within this Colonye, to serve as members of this Gene- 
rail Assembly, which shall be known by the name of the Lower House, wherein a 
Speaker chosen by themselves shall preside ; which houses so formed shall have a dis- 
tinct power to appoint all needful officers^ ^to make such rules as they shall severally 
judge necessary for the regulating of themselves. And it is further ordered that no 
act shall be passed into a la^ve of this Colonic, nor any law already enacted be repealed, 
nor any other act proper to the Generall Assembly, but by the consent of each of the 
said Jiouses." 

* It appears that this duplicate of the original Patent was written on two sheep skins, while the 
original Patent was written on three. The original Charter now hangs in the Secretarie's Office at 
Hartford. A part of the duplicate has been destroyed, but the remainder of it hangs in the 
Library of the Connecticut Historical Society. — Col. Rec. Conn., IV., 263, 264 & Note. 



300 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1698 

New commissions were granted to justices of the quorum in each 
county to act in the county court with one judge, or any three of them 
in the absence of the county judge. Judges in the county towns were 
granted power to act with any two of the quorum for probating wills, 
granting administration and allowing guardians, as in the Prerogative 
Courts of England, except in Fairfield county, where Judge Gold with two 
of the justices of the quorum of the county, was appointed to keep the 
said prerogative court, with full power to appoint all officers needful 
and proper for the said court. In the absence of Gold, three justices of 
the quorum were required to keep the prerogative court, the first nomina- 
tion in the commission presiding. Appeals were made from this court to 
the court of assistants. Captain Mathew Sherwood of Fairfield was 
appointed a justice of the county quorum. 

The deputies were allowed 3^'. in money a day for attending the ses- 
sions of the Assembly. The deputies from Fairfield county were granted 
the same allowance for three days in coming to and going from the Assem- 
bly. The other counties were allowed the same sum from one to two 
days. It was also enacted that each morning during the session, the sec- 
retary should call over the names of the deputies of the several towns, and 
if any were absent, unless they came within an hour, they were to sacrifice 
the pay of that day. When absent by permission, the salary for the num- 
^ber of days only was forfeited ; but if from neglect a fine, not exceeding 
ten shillings a day, was imposed. The assistants were allowed 5^. a day, 
while they attended the Assembly, and also the fees paid to the court of 
assistants. 

A tax of 2d. on the pound was levied on all the towns to pay the col- 
ony expenses. The oath of allegiance to the King of England was admin- 
istered to each member of the Assembly. 

A very important step was taken by some of the leading ministers in 
the colony this year, that young men might not only receive a good educa- 
tion at home, but that the churches might be supplied with efificient and 
well educated ministers of the Congregational order. Since Harvard Col- 
lege was founded, the young men of Connecticut had made it their Alma 
Mater ; but the flourishing state of the colony at this time, and the desire 
of the leading ministers and gentlemen to found an institution of learning 
within their borders, caused the subject of a collegiate school to be agi- 
tated. The money expended yearly in contributions out of the public 
treasury, and by frequent private donations to the support of Cambridge 
College, and in sending their sons so far from home, became a subject of 
thoughtful consideration among the ministers and planters. Besides, it 



1699] CHURCHES, SCHOOLS, GOVERNMENT 3OI 

was thought that Connecticut was fully able to maintain a college of her 
own. The Rev. Mr. Pierpont of New Haven, the Rev. Mr. Andrews of 
Milford, and the Rev. Mr. Russell of Brandford were the leading ministers 
in this movement. They discussed the matter first among themselves, and 
then introduced it into their councils and among their people, until a gen- 
eral enthusiasm upon the subject prevailed in the colony. 

At the May election Judge Gold was made an assistant, and Lieutenant 
John Wakeman and James_ Benniti deputies of Fairfield. The repre- 
sentatives withdrew from the upper house to choose their speaker and to 
make rules for regulating their business. Several important laws were 
passed by both houses, among which was an act prohibiting counterfeiting, 
clipping, rounding, filing, or otherwise lessening the value of current 
money and coins, under a penalty of imprisonment, unless securities were 
given for the future good behavior of the culprit. The following laws were 
granted for the benefit of Fairfield village: 

" Impr, To make choice annually of two or three persons, who shall have power 
to order meetings of the societye to order their minister's rate, & what concerns may be 
needfuU about their meeting house. 

2. To choose collectors of the rates, & that they shall have full power by virtue of 
awritt from lawfuU authority, upon non payment to distrain. 

3. To choose a constable, whose power shall reach from the west side [of P.aqua] 
fiuck River unto the uttermost bounds of the village west [ward, accord] ing to the limi- 
tations granted to [329] their comission of || officers, the village consisting partly of Fair- 
field & partly of Stratford. 

4. That they shall have libertye to choose anually a society recorder, to be sworn to 
that worke." 

The Rev. Joseph Webb was granted two hundred acres of land.* At 
the October session of the General Assembly, Lieutenant John Wakeman 
and Ensign John Osborn represented Fairfield. A tax of 3^. on the 
pound was levied to defray the expenses of the colony. The first Thurs- 
day in May, for the future, was set down for the annual meeting of the 
court of assistants. A table regulating the fees of assistants, justices, 
constables and other of^cers was agreed upon, which is one of the curiosi- 
ties of the times, and reflects credit upon the honesty of the magistrates 
who sat in high places. Any departure from these fixed sums by over- 
charge was punished by a fine of ten pounds current money, one half of 
which was to be paid to the colony treasury, and the other half to the 

* This land is recorded as having been granted in October. 1710, but it appears to have been 
laid out about the same time or soon after the heirs of the Rev. .Samuel Wakeman obtained a 
patent for the grant made to him, May, 1683. — Col. Rec. of Conn., V., 215. Fairfield Town Rec, 
vol. n., p. 326. 



302 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD [1699 

informer or the plaintiff, besides double the value of the excessive fees so 
taken to the injured party. In order to preserve the forests, which for so 
many years had been drained of some of the best timber in the colony, a 
law was passed prohibiting the sale and exportation of timber of any kind 
without a license from the major part of the select-men of any town, under 
a penalty of forfeiting the whole cargo, besides a fine paid by the captain 
of five pounds for each offense. This act was not to affect saw mills 
erected by liberty of the Assembly, nor timber brought from other places 
for transportation. The days for appointing the annual public fasts were 
left to the discretion of the governor and council. The first Wednesday 
in November was appointed a day of general thanksgiving throughout the 
colony. 

In 1699 ten of the ministers in Connecticut were made trustees to 
found, erect and govern a college. Tliese gentleman were the Rev, 
Messrs. James Noyes of Stonington, Israel Chauncey of Stratford, Thomas 
Buckingham of Saybrook, Abraham Pierson of Killingworth, Samuel 
Mather of Windsor, Samuel Andrews of Milford, Timothy Woodbridge of 
Hartford, James Pierpont of New Haven, Nodiah Russell of Middletown, 
and Joseph Webb of Fairfield.'^ 

" For the better security of Maintenance of ministers," in October the 
following act was passed by the General Court : 

" It is ordered and enacted by the authority aforesaid, that in every town, plantation or 
society within this colony, where the major part of the householders of any the said town, 
plantation or society, who in or by lawe are allowed society, are agreeing in the calling 
& settling of a minister, such minister so called & settled, shall be & accounted the 
lawful minister of such town, & that all agreements respecting the maintenance & 
settlement of such minister made by the major part of the householders of such town, 
plantation or society as aforesaid shall be binding & obliging to the whole, & all of 
such town, plantation or society & to their successors according to all the true intents 
& purposes thereof. 

And it is further enacted by the authority aforesaid; That where this Court both deter- 
mined the bounds & limits of any society in any town or plantation in this Colony where 
there are more than one society, that in every such case all persons living within these 
bounds & limits & their estates lying wathin the same, shall bear their proportion of, & be 
rateable according to the lawe for the support & maintenance of the ministry of that soci- 
ety, any lawe, usage or custome to the contrary notwithstanding." 

* Trumbull's Hist. Conn., IV., 498. 



APPENDIX 

No. I 
LIFE OF ROGER LUDLOW IN NEW ENGLAND 

In the year 1630, when the spirit of emigration from the old to the new world was at 
its height, the Massachusetts Bay Company fitted out seventeen ships, with all the neces- 
sary supplies for the maintenance of a colony in New England. During the previous 
year, the company had sent out about three hundred planters under Governor John Endi- 
cott, who settled Salem & Charlestown. But a few months later the patent of the 
company, which provided a governor, deputy-governor and eighteen assistants, to govern 
the Colony of Massachusetts Bay in New Ettgland, \\a.s transferred to New England. 
At the same time John Winthrop was chosen governor, & Thomas Dudly deputy 
governor. 

Among the assistants or magistrates then selected, was Roger Ludlow, a gentleman 
from Wilts county, whose family were among the leaders of that period in the struggle 
for the civil & religious liberties of the people. He was perhaps led to settle in New 
England, partly through the influence of Governor Endicott, partly from ambition & 
love of adventure. 

He sailed from Plymouth on the 20 of March 1630, in the A/ary and JoJin, a ship of 
about four hundred tons, which, either at that time or soon after, he owned. His com- 
panions were the Rev. John Wareham, Rev. John Maverick, Roger Clap, Edward Rossi- 
ter (an assistant) Henry Wolcott & a number of Mr. Wareham's congregation. Most 
of the passengers were from the counties of Devon, Dorset, Somerset & Wilts, & 
numbered "about one hundred & forty souls." " This," says Cotton Mather, " was an 
honorabl'e company." 

A short time before sailing, " upon a day of fasting & prayer they were formed into 
a Congregational Church in the new hospital at Plymouth." The famous Rev. Mr. White 
of Dorchester preached & assisted in ordaining or re-instating the Rev. Mr. Wareham 
& Mr. Maverick to be their pastor & teacher in New England. 

With many prayers & many tears the mother and family of Roger Ludlow saw the 
Mary and John pass out of sight, to cross the great Ocean, which lay between them &; 
the Massachusetts Bay. It is a remarkable fact that, all the ships which composed 
Winlhrop's fleet, reached their destination in safety before the close of the year. The 
Mary and John was the first to arrive, 8l sailed into Massachusetts Bay on the Lord's 
Day May 30., about six weeks from the time she left England. Owing to the danger of 
wrecking the ship from want of knowledge of the coast, the master, Captain Squib, 
landed the passengers & their effects on Nantasket Point, afterwards called Hull. 
Roger Ludlow & other passengers protested against being landed at this point, & 
argued that the captain had engaged to take them up the river. Captain Squib insisted, 
however, that he agreed to take them only to the mouth of the river, which promise he 
had fulfilled. He therefore left them to take care of themselves, for which " merciless 
misdemeanor " he was afterwards fined in England. A kind Providence, however, over- 



304 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD 

shadowed them in their distressed condition. Certain persons called the old planters 
came to their relief, who, independent of the Plymouth colony, had settled above them on 
the Massachusetts Bay some years before Endicott & his company arrived at Salem. 
They furnished Roger Ludlow & his friends a boat, and assisted in rowing them up 
the Charles river " until it grew narrow & shallow, where they landed, & built a hut to 
shelter their goods, at a place now called Watertown." Finding but a scanty supply of 
good water at this point for their cattle, they soon removed to a neck of land called 
Mattapan, which abounded with springs of delicious water. With all possible haste the 
company erected their first houses of shelter, & named the place Dorchester. Here 
Roger Ludlow built his first rude house in the wilderness. 

On the 20. of August following, the first General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Com- 
pany in New England was held at Charlestown. The names of those who attended the 
Court are entered in the Records of the Colony, as follows : 

Present : 

Mr. Jo : Winthrop Gov. Mr. Increase Newell 

Mr. Thomas Dudly Deput Gov. Mr. Tho. Sharpe 

Sir Richard Saltonstall Kt. Mr. Will. Pinchion 

Mr. Roger Ludlow. Mr. Sim. Broadstreete 
Mr. Edward Rossiter. 

Sir Richard Saltonstall, Roger Ludlow & John Endicott were appointed justices of the 
peace, " with the like power that justices of the peace have in England, for reformation of 
abuses & punishing & imprisoning offenders." A second court was held at Governor 
Winthrop's house on the 7. of September, when Roger Ludlow with Mr. Rossiter & Mr. 
Pinchion " were fined a noble a-piece, for their absence from the court at the time 
appointed." Ludlow's absence was no doubt caused by good reasons, and does not 
appear to have occurred again, for his name is found among those who regularly attended 
the sittings of the frequent Courts held during the year, & his voice & influence were 
constantly employed in framing laws to meet the emergencies of governing the colony in 
its infancy. 

In May 1632 the ireemen of the Massachusetts Colony resumed the right, under their 
charter privileges, of electing their governor and deputy governor. Accustomed to rev- 
erence & bend to titled authority in the mother-country, they had yielded this right to 
the assistants or magistrates at a General Court held at Boston on the 19. of Oct. 1630, 
when by erection of hands the freemen assented to the proposition " that they should have 
the power of choosing the assistants ; &; that the assistants should choose from among 
themselves a governor and deputy governor, who, with the assistants should have the 
power of making laws & choosing officers to execute the same." The mistake in this 
concession on the part of the freemen soon became apparent, &: at a sitting of the 
General Court May 9, 1632, "It was generally agreed by erection of hands, that the gov- 
ernor, deputy governor, and assistants should be chosen by the whole Court of governor, 
deputy governor, assistants & freemen.'" At the same time the freemen still conceded 
their right to elect their Governor by agreeing " that the Governor should always be 
chosen out of the assistants." 

This assumption of their liberties on the part of the freemen, did not please Roger 
Ludlow, & upon hearing that they intended to repeal the vote of the 19. of Oct. 



APPENDIX 305 

'1630, he " grew into a passion & said, then we shall have no government. The matter 
was cleared in the judgment of the rest of the assistants, but he continued stiff in liis 
opinions, & protested he would go back to England." The problem of establishing a 
republican form of government in New England, had but just begun ; & no doubt 
Roger Ludlow & others had reason to fear the danger of placing too much power in the 
hands of a people, many of whom were unaccustomed to rule, & wholly unfit to judge 
of the best men to mould a government, entirely different from that to which they 
had been accustomed. Most of the ministers & principal gentlemen of the colony came 
to New England, with a fixed resolution to establish a republican form of government, as 
well as to enjoy liberty of conscience in religious matters as Independents or Congrega- 
tionalists. But they were jealous of giving too much power to the people, careful whom 
they admitted as freemen to the colony, allowed none but church members to be made 
freemen, & sent back to England all opposed to their ideas of government in church 
& state. From the beginning they had feared that a governor would be sent out from 
England. Those who had been sent back, some of whom belonged to the Church of Eng- 
land, & were persons of good family, returned with loud complaints of harsh rule, & 
of the intolerance practiced by the General Court of Massachusetts, in allowing the civil 
franchise to be based only upon Congregational church membership, thus depriving them 
of their civil rights & of the liberty of worshiping according to the custom of the 
Established Church of England. Those of this class who remained in the colony, proved a 
turbulent element. 

These complaints reached the royal ear, & aroused the displeasure ofCharlesI. ; 
but the hope of gaining wealth from the new world, led him to allow the Bay Company, for 
the time being, to continue in their own way of governing the colony. Besides the king 
was so seriously embarrassed with his unruly subjects at home, that he had no time to 
give attention to his weak colonies in New England. It was for these reasons that Roger 
Ludlow's zeal for the welfare of tiie colony, led him beyond the bounds of self interest. 
He believed that the safety of the colony lay in the power of the governor, deputy governor, 
& the court of assistants, to protect its best interests; hence his indignation at what he 
regarded as placing too much power in the hands of the freemen of a growing colony. 
Such was his popularity, however, that his views, for the time being, did not appear to 
lessen the respect entertained for him & his great usefulness. He continued in his 
office of an assistant under the change until 1634. 

Undoubtedly the assistants all aspired to the chief office of the magistracy, whose rule 
was nothing more nor less than an oligarchy based upon a theocratic form of government, 
out of which the people were destined to rise into the light of a grand republic. Evidently 
Roger Ludlow's political views at that time, were more aristocratic than democratic. In 
this particular he was not alone, for no less a person than the distinguished Rev. John 
Cotton, preached an election sermon before the General Court in 1634, in which he stated 
that "a magistrate ought not to be turned into the condition of a private man without 
just cause, & to be publicly convict, no more than the magistrates may not turn a private 
man out of his freehold without like public trial." His sermon so aroused the jealousy 
of the freemen, that they abstained for four years from a re-election of any person to be 
Governor at the end of his official term. During a session of the General Court held at 
Boston Nov. 7. 1632, one hundred acres of land were granted to Roger Ludlow & 
his heirs forever, lying between Alasquantum & Chappell, & the mouth of the Napan- 
sett river. On the 4. of March 1633 he was appointed by the General Court to admi'nis- 
20 



306 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD 

ler upon the estate of John Knight. He continued to rise in popularity, until his name 
appears during several sittings of the General Court, next to that of the deputy governor. 

A ludicrous story is found in the Massachusetts records, Sept. 3. 1633. It 
appears that in his office of a justice of the peace, he arrested Captain John Stone for some 
misdemeanor ; & it is recorded, " that Stone for his outrage committed in confronting 
authority, abusing Mr. Ludlow both in words & behavior, assaulting him & calling him a 
just ass &.C., is fined one hundred pounds, &; prohil)ited coming within this patent, with- 
out leave of the governor, under the penalty of death." Not long after Stone, who was a 
dissolute, intemperate man, was murdered by the Indians on the Connecticut river. 

At a General Court held at Boston on the i. of April 1634, Ludlow was appointed 
with Mr. Coggin to inventory & to take into safe keeping the goods & chattels of Mr. 
Joseph Tilly, to satisfy such debt as he owed the Bay. At the same time the Court ordered 
that "John Lee should be whipped for calling Mr. Ludlow a false hearted knave, a hard 
hearted knave, a heavy friend, &c." It was at this period that the jealous ippreliensions 
of King Charles I. were again aroused against the colonies. Besides the subsidies & 
ship money levied upon his subjects, an order was obtained, that all persons leaving the 
country should take the oath of allegiance & supremacy to the king. The prayers 
contained in the Book of Common Prayer, were ordered to be read on ships leaving the 
ports of England morning & evening, "in the presence of all persons aboard these said 
ships." The charter of the Massachusetts Company was also ordered to be laid before 
the board by its first president Mr. Cradock, when it was discovered, perhaps for the 
first time, that it had been taken to America. No sooner did this state of affairs reach 
the company in Massachusetts, than a General Court was convened with a view to reor- 
ganize the company. The warlike spirit of the Indians made it unsafe for all the freemen 
of the towns, then numbering si.xteen, to be present at the assembling of the Court. This 
led to the election of deputies from each town, to represent the freemen. 

Upon the assembling of the court May 14, 1634 the desired reform in the policy of 
the government was made. An oath was prepared for the freemen, in which they were 
bound to sustain the government of the company within the jurisdiction of the Bay as sub- 
jects thereof, " without respect of person or favor of man." Four General Courts were to 
be held yearly instead of one. None but the General Court of the colony was allowed 
to choose & admit freemen ; to make & establish laws ; to elect & appoint officers, as 
governor, deputy governor, assistants, treasurer, secretary, captains, lieutenants, ensigns, 
&c., or to set out the duty & power of said officers ; to raise money & taxes, Sc to 
dispose of lands & property. Two or three out of each town were to be chosen depu- 
ties, with full voice to represent the freemen. In order to bind the Assistants to their 
duty in attending the Court, a fine was imposed for any neglect of the same. An election 
of officers by ballot followed, & Thomas Dudly was elected governor in place of Gov- 
ernor Winthrop, & Roger Ludlow was promoted to the office of deputy governor. It was 
at this time that Ludlow with three others, was appointed by the General Court to take 
from Governor Winthrop "an account of such commodities as he had received of the com- 
mon stock " during his term of oflfice. 

Winthrop had now been governor four years, & the freemen, jealous of his long 
continuance in office, had decided to elect a new governor. They had set out to maintain 
their charter privileges, & they were resolved to carry out a further continuation of 
democratic reform. Winthrop had offended Dudley & others in removing from New- 
town, & fortifying Boston as the most prominent site for the metropolis of New England. 



APPENDIX 307 

In the heat of jealousy on the part of Dudley, the freemen & the Newtown people, this 
investigation was required, to which Winthrop greatly mortified, submitted. 

At the sitting of the General Court on the 23. of September following, Ludlow pre- 
sented a just & honorable account of Winthrop's business transactions with the colony. 
He was followed by Winthrop in a most touching address to the Court. He informed 
the Court that he had spent twelve hundred pounds of his own money for the benefit of 
the colony, of which he said, " it repenteth me not of my cost & labor bestowed in the 
service of this commonwealth," &c. He concluded witli one request, that as it stood upon 
record, that upon leaving his office he was called to account, "so this my declaration 
may be recorded also, lest hereafter when I shall be forgotten, some blemish may lye upon 
my posteritie when there shall be nothing to clean it." 

Ludlow had held the office of deputy governor but a short time, when a new instru- 
ment sent out from England, was laid before the General Court held Sept. 3. This 
instrument provided a court of commissioners consisting of two Archbishops, si.x lay per- 
sons, & three others, with power of protection & government over all English colonies ; 
to make laws, orders & institutions; to provide for the maintenance of a clergy "by 
tithes, oblations or other profits ; " to inflict punishment ; to remove governors & other 
officers ; to establish ecclesiastical courts ; to hear & determine complaints, either against 
the whole colonies or any private member thereof ; & to call in all letters patent, and if inju- 
rious to the " crown or prerogative royal," to cause them to be legally revoked.* 

This instrument did not intimidate the Bay company, but every man rose in defense 
of his liberties. Committees were appointed "to manage any war that might befall the 
colony." A tax of six hundred pounds was levied upon the several towns, towards defray- 
ing public expenses. Economy in dress, & in all possible ways to aid in the maintenance 
of establishing the colony on a self reliant basis, was ordered to be exercised, as well as 
to keep out intruders of any kind, either at home or from abroad. Care was taken that 
"the Scottish Irish gentlemen, who intended to come over from North of Ireland, should 
have liberty to settle in any place upon the Merrimack river, not possessed by any."t 
It was "ordered thnt a platform should be immediately erected on the north east side of 
Castle Ireland, & a house built on the top of the hill to defend the platform." The fort at 
Boston was ordered to be completed at once, & " every hand able to work," both of the 
old & new comers, except magistrates & ministers, was to be pressed into the speedy 
erection of the needed fortifications. Another fort was ordered to be built at Charleston, 
& another either at the " deputy governors " Roger Ludlow's (Dorchester) or at Fox 
Point. The people of Salem " were to fortify themselves so as to satisfy the General 
Court." A committee was appointed to select convenient places for the erection of the 
fortifications. Roger Ludlow was chosen " overseer for the work at Castle Ireland." 
This island (at the present day called Fort Independence) lies south of Fort Winthrop, 
on Governor's Island, near the mouth of Boston Harbor. It is one of the most prominent 
forts in the harbor. Hewers of stone were not plentiful in those early days, & the 
fort, under the directing eye of Roger Ludlow, was built " with mud walls which 
stood divers years." " When this mud wall became impaired " says Roger Clap, " it was 
rebuilt with pine trees and earth, which lasted but a short time, when a small castle was 
built with brick walls, which had three rooms in it; " "a dwelling room below, a lodging 
room over it, & a gun room over that, wherein stood six small pieces of artillery; S: over 

♦Palfrey, His. of New England, Vol. I., p. 394. 
t Mass. Col. Rec. 



3o8 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD 

it, on the top, three smaller ones. " It was first comrrianded by Thomas Beecher,* followed 
successively by Captain Simi<ins, Lieutenant Morris, Captain Richard Davenport & 
Roger Clap. On the 21. of March, 1672, the Castle took fire and was destroyed. A new 
fort was rebuilt in 1674 which stood until 1701, when the old works were taken down, 
& new ones, built of brick in a very substantial manner, were erected in their place, 
which were completed in 1703. It then received the name of Fort William, in honor ot 
William III. The Castle was again destroyed, when the British evacuated Boston. It 
was immediately repaired by the provincial troops, & its name changed to Fort Inde- 
pendence in 1797. For a number of years the island was noted as a dueling ground, 
while the Castle was used as a place of confinement for convicts from 1785, until the 
States Prison was built at Charleston in 1805. During our late civil war, a number of 
prisoners were confined here, & several deserters were shot. Within a few years a sub- 
stantial stone fort has been erected. t 

An interesting scene took place at Roger Ludlow's house in the month of October 
following. The Pequots, who had murdered Captain Stone & his crew on the Connec- 
ticut, & had fallen out with the Dutch on the river, being apprehensive that the Dutch 
might form an alliance with the Narragansetts, sent a Pequot messenger to treat with the 
Bay Colony. He brought with him according to the Indian fashion, a present from his 
Sachem Sassacus, which he presented as a personal gift to the deputy governor Roger 
Ludlow. " He laid down two bundles of sticks, indicating the number of beavers & 
other skins which the Pequots would give the English, & promised that they should be 
accompanied with a large amount of wampum." Having thus prefaced his visit with a 
show of good will, he requested that a league should be established between his people 
& the Englishmen of the Bay. Roger Ludlow accepted the present, & gave in return 
a moose coat of equal value to be given to Sassacus. He instructed the messenger, how- 
ever, that he was not of sufficient rank to treat with the English sachems, but that if Sas- 
sacus wished to enter into a league with them, he must send ambassadors of a higher 
rank. 

Two weeks afterward, two Pequot Sagamores, bringing with them another gift, 
appeared at Dorchester, and presented themselves at Ludlow's house. He received them 
very courteously & accompanied them to Boston, where the murderers of Captain Stone 
'& his men were demanded, before peace could be established between them & the 
English. The Sagamores represented that Stone had provoked his own destruction by 
his insolent conduct, having seized & bound two Indians to pilot him up the Connecti- 
cut, & while going on shore at night with his men & the two captives, he was surprised 
by a party of Indians, who had been watching him, & all were killed but the two captives, 
whom they liberated. 

The Sagamores promised that Sassacus would deliver up two of the murderers at 
least. The others they represented to be dead. They also promised that the English 
siiould have as much land on the Connecticut as they wished, & every assistance rendered 
them by the Pequots, provided they would make a settlement on that river. Papers were 
drawn & signed to this effect. The Sagamores promised to give forty beaver skins, thirty 
otter skins & four hundred fathoms of wampum, & to pay their taxes to the English. 
The compact was concluded Nov. 4. 1634. This treaty, which was conducted through 
Ludlow, for whom it is shown that the Indians entertained a high respect, reflects great 
credit upon him, at this important crisis. 

♦Mass. Col. Rec, Vol. I. p. 147. t Hist, of Boston Harbor. 



APPENDIX 309 

The winter passed without molestation from any quarter. A General Court was 
convened Jan. 19, 1635 when it was unanimously agreed that " If a General Governor 
were sent from England, we ought not to accept him, but defend our lawful possessions, 
if we are able ; otherwise to avoid or protract." 

Again in March the General Court assembled, when it was ordered " that the fort at 
Castle Island, now begun, should be fully perfected, the ordnance mounted & every 
other thing about it finished, before any thing else be proceeded in ; & that the Deputy 
Governor Roger Ludlow, as an overseer of the work, should have power to press men for 
the work, as long a time as in his discretion he should think meet." An important ques- 
tion at this time arose in regard to the mutilated English flag, out of which John Endicott 
had cut the red cross, which, in his eyes, was but as a relic of popery. After a warm 
& lengthy debate, it was decided that the cross was to be kept in banners belonging to 
castles & vessels, out of respect to the national flag of England, when it was necessary. 
In the banners of the train bands, however, it was generally omitted.* It was during the 
sitting of a General Court held at Newtown on the 4. of March 1635, ^^^^^ ^'^ order was 
passed, " that when the deputies of several towns had met together before any General 
Court, it might be lawful for them, or the major part of them, to hear &; determine any 
differences that may arise about the election of any of their members, & to order things 
among themselves that may concern the well ordering of their body."f 

Ludlow was among those who aspired to be governor for the ensuing year, 
an office, his ambition as well as his merits led him to expect. Great therefore was his 
disappointment, when on the 6. of May, John Haynes was elected governor & Richard 
Bellingham Deputy Governor. In a moment of outspoken indignation he went so far as 
to declare the election void, & accused the deputies of having agreed upon whom they 
would elect before they assembled at the Court of Election, which was undoubtedly true. 
The freemen no doubt administered this rebuke on account of his opposing their char- 
tered liberties in respect to voting for their chief magistrates. His name was also left out 
of the magistracy. Perhaps others equally ambitious, were jealous of his rising popu- 
larity. There were those also who plainly saw that he was not as yet sufficiently demo- 
cratic to take the helm of government, & his church views were more liberal than those 
of some other leaders. 

The Ludlow family, who for many years had held a place in Parliament, were strong 
advocates for the liberties of the people against the usurpations of the crown. J As a 
family they were high churchmen ;§ no evidence exists however to show that Roger 
Ludlow was not a stanch Puritan ; but the liberality of his views in regard to church 
membership is shown in the Connecticut Constitution of 163^, in which the civil franchise 
of the Connecticut colony was not based upon church membership. He was by no means 
alone in his chagrin. Captain Israel Stoughton (who afterwards became famous in the 
Pequot war) was prohibited from holding any office in the colony for three years, for 
affirming during a warm debate before the General Court as to the advantages of settling 
a colony on the Connecticut, " that the Assistants were no magistrates." || No less a per- 
sonage than Governor Wmthrop had been deposed from his office, & subjected to the mor- 
tification of a financial investigation. John Endicott was under the censure of the Court, 

* Magnalia, Vol. II., Book 7, p. 436. t Mass. Col. Rec, Vol. I., p. 142. 

J Memoirs of Lieut. Gov. Edmund Ludlow. — Astor Library. 

§ Proceedings of the Laying of the Comer-stone of Ludlow & Wilkins Hall, 1866. 
I Col. Rec. Mass., L, 1^)6. 



3IO HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD 

for having cut the red cross out of the English flag. Roger Williams was under the ban 
of church discipline, & soon after banished from the colony. Loud complaints were 
made by many non-communicants, who claimed the right to be made freemen. Others 
among the first Assistants had also been set aside, & their places filled by persons not 
mentioned in the charter, Upon the announcement of the election of John Haynes as 
governor & Richard Bellingham, deputy governor, Ludlow evidently resolved to leave 
the colony. At his own request he was dismissed from the charge of overseeing the for- 
tification at Castle Island. The Court, however, sensible of iiis merits, appointed him 
with Governor Winthrop, Thomas Dudly, John Humphrey, and Thomas Beecher as a 
committee on military affairs. This committee was given extraordinary power. They 
were to dispose of all military affairs v^hatsoever ; to appoint all officers ; to call out the 
troops ; to remove officers not true to the interests of the colony ; "to make any defensive 
war ; " to imprison enemies of the commonwealth ; " to bring in alive or dead such as re- 
fused to come under command or restraint, & to put any offender to death by martial trial." 
This office Ludlow soon after resigned ; & the Court appointed a committee, to take an 
account of the money he had received from the treasury for the erection of the fort at 
Castle Island. In the meantime Ludlow, who had previously opposed the movement, 
now turned all his thoughts towards settling a colony on the Connecticut river. It was 
known that in 1631 the Plymouth Company had granted a patent of Connecticut to 
Lords Say & Seal, Lord Brook, Sir Richard Saltonstall & others ; & that the patentees 
expected to take possession of their lands as soon as the settlement had sufficiently 
advanced to warrant their removal to New England. The influence of Ludlow & others 
in drawing many to join them in emigrating to the Connecticut, was most alarming to the 
Massachusetts Bay Company, so much so, that on the 18. of September, 1634, a public 
fast was appointed by the General Court. The protest of this Court, & of the ministers 
who opposed the measure as one of great peril, however, no longer availed with Ludlow. 
In this movement he had the co-operation of his minister the Rev. Mr. Wareham, & his 
friend the Rev. Samuel Maverick, the discomforted Captain Israel Stoughton, & many 
other of his Dorchester friends & neighbors. Whatever the privations he suffered dur- 
ing the first year of the emigration, his proud spirit met every difficulty, & rose above 
every emergency. 

This emigration which was led by Governor Winslow, of the Plymouth Colony in 
1632 & 33 had been strongly opposed by the General Court of Massachusetts from tiie 
beginning ; but the people impatient of restraint, took the matter into their own hands, 
& in 1634, a few planters from Watertown made their way to Weathersfield, where they 
spent the winter. Finding that the colonists were resolved upon planting a settlement 
on the Connecticut, on the 6. of the May 1635 the General Court reluctantly "granted the 
Watertown men, liberty to remove to any place they shall think meet, provided they con- 
tinue under this government." On the 3. of June following, the General Court gave the 
inhabitants of Dorchester liberty to remove to the Connecticut. Three pieces of artillery 
were also granted to the plantations on the river, " to fortify themselves withall." 

During the latter part of June, Ludlow, accompanied by a party of Dorchester 
men, made his way to Matianock, (now Windsor), on the Connecticut ; & encamped near 
Holme's trading house. After having been entertained a few days by the Plymouth com- 
pany, he & his companions proceeded up the river above the falls ; but not finding lands 
to their liking they soon returned to their first camping grounds, which they found had 
been taken possession of by another party. The new comers proved to be Mr. Francis 



APPENDIX 311 

Stiles & about twenty men, who had been sent out at Sir Richard Saltonstall's expense, 
to prepare grounds & erect houses for himself & other lords & gentlemen, who 
expected to come over to take possession of their patent. Stiles " arrived in Massachusetts 
Bay on the 16. of June, where he remained for ten days, & then sailed up the Connecticut 
to Windsor, the point designated in his instructions, which he reached about the i. of 
July." A dispute at once arose between Ludlow & Stiles. Ludlow claimed the grounds 
by priority of occupation, & also that Matianock lay within the jurisdiction of the 
Massachusetts patent. Stiles contended that it lay within the limits of the Connecticut 
patent, & that the Dorchester men previous to his arrival, had not decided upon any 
location. Ludlow & his men, however, continued to claim the situation. After many 
hard words on botli sides, Stiles & his party gave in, & landing his stores &c. below 
Windsor, he sent back the vessel to England, & awaited further orders. This vessel was 
lost on its return voyage off the Isle of Shoals. The pecuniary loss to Sir Richard Salton- 
stall was very great. The lands claimed by both parties remained in dispute until 1645, 
when the patent was sold to the Connecticut Colony.* 

In the mean time another trouble arose about the disputed lands. The Plymouth 
company objected to Ludlow's men settling upon the very grounds, which they claimed by 
purchase from the Indians. Governor Bradford strongly protested against their usurpa- 
tion of these lands, & accused them of " casting a partial if not covetous eye upon that, 
which is your neighbors, & not yours." The Dutch also laid claim to these lands. Lud- 
low & his men, however, in spite of all opposition were busily engaged during the sum- 
mer, in making preparations to remove their families before fall to Matianock. All 
through the summer small parties joined the Dorchester company. On the 15. of 
October "about sixty men, women, & children went by land to Connecticut with their 
cows, heifers, & swine, & after a tedious journey arrived there safely." " Their household 
furniture & winter provisions were sent around by water. The hearts of the emigrants 
were cheered by the arrival of John Winthrop jr's party, who on the 9. of Nov. dispatched 
a small vessel to take possession of the mouth of the Connecticut, & fifteen hundred 
acres of lands as nearly adjoining, as might be convenient for the maintenance of a 
fort." 

The balmy air of the Indian summer too soon gave place to the severity of an unusu- 
ally cold winter, & the sufferings of all tlie settlers upon the river were very great. 
Several endeavored to return to Dorchester, wiiich they reached only by the kindness of 
the Indians after a perilous journey. A company of seventy seized upon a small vessel of 
fifty tons called the Rebecca, which had been frozen in the river. Upon this frail vessel 
they embarked. A day of mild weather followed, when the river opened, & they sailed 
out into the Sound. They reached Massachusetts in five days. Those who remained 
behind lived upon acorns, malt & grain, & what food they ventured to hunt, & were 
presented with by the Indians. The loss of the Dorchester people at this time, Winthrop 
states, was as much as ^^2,000, in cattle alone. Nothing daunted, however, Ludlow prose- 
cuted his plan of making a permanent settlement at Windsor. On the 3. of March the 
General Court granted a commission to Roger Ludlow Esq'., William Pinchon, John 
Steele, William Swaine, Henry Smyth, William Phelpes, William Westwood, & Andrew 
Warde to govern the people att Connecticut, " in a judicial way," for the space of 
one year ; " to hold a Court for executing the power & authority given them ; to inflict 
punishment & imprisonment ; to levy taxes & fines both in trading, planting, 
* Stiles' History of Ancient Windsor, Winthrop's Journal, Vol. I, p. 171. 



312 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD 

building lots, military discipline, defensive war, (if need so require) as shall best con- 
duce to the public good of the same— provided, also, that this may not be prejudicial to 
the interests of those noble personages in the sd. river, & confines thereof within their 
several limits." On the i6. of April 1636 Ludlow and a company, comprising the larger 
pah of the Dorchester church, set out for the Connecticut. " Their pastor Mr. Wareham 
some state accompanied them, while others say he followed soon after." By this move- 
ment Dorchester " was deprived of nearly one half of its population, including the minis- 
ters, Messrs. Wareham & Maverick, & a large part of the intelligence & wealth which 
accompanied the first comers." During the same year Agawam or Springfield was set- 
tled by Mr. Pinchion, John & Jehu Burr, Henry Smyth, & others from Roxbury. In 
June the Rev. Mr. Hooker with about one hundred men, women &; children from Cam- 
bridge, settled Suckiage or Hartford. The settlement of Weathersfield, already begun 
the previous year, was increased by the arrival of a few others. 

Ludlow with the other leading spirits of the emigration, no doubt felt more at ease 
to be thus far removed from the Bay colony, whose warlike preparations towards the 
Mother-country had already assumed a serious aspect. The murmur of the waters of the 
Connecticut & of the distant falls, was far more soothing to his wounded spirit, than the 
boom of his Majestie's cannon balls approaching Castle Island. Perhaps too, at that time 
he felt that he could far better serve his king and his countrymen in the wilderness of 
Connecticut, than the freemen of Massachusetts, who had so ungratefully rewarded his 
services. It was certainly a novel position for a man of spirit to erect a fort for the pro- 
lection of a body of freemen, who did not hesitate to depose him from the high offices he 
had held. He had, however, been learning the lesson of political experience ; & the 
very discipline which had angered & humiliated him, served to enlarge his views, & to 
prepare liim for a more liberal & enlightened mode of building up a republican form of 
government. From this time he became the leader of Connecticut jurisprudence. His 
name heads the list of the first nine Courts held in the colony, & he was to all intents 
& purposes its first governor. On the 26. of April, 1636, Ludlow & four of his associates 
met at Newtown or Hartford, to open the first Cotir/ held in Connecticut. The following 
names are given as they occur in the Colonial Records : 

Roger Ludlow Esq'. Mr. Westwood. 

Mr. Steel. Mr. Warde.* 

Mr. Phelps. 

Mr. Pinchion, Mr. Swaine & Mr. Smyth, the three others appointed to assist in govern- 
ing the colony, were not present. 

The first law passed by this Court, was, that no Englishman should trade a pistol or 
a gun, or any powder or shot with the Indians "under a heavy penalty." Constables were 
chosen for Dorchester, Newtown & Watertown. At a second Court held on the 7. of 
June ai Dorchester (Windsor), Samuel Wakeman & George Hubbard were appointed 
by Ludlow & his associates, to survey & lay out the length & breadth of that town. 
Military laws were made for the protection of the towns, & every man was ordered to 
provide himself with powder & ball, & twenty bullets of lead, under a penalty of ten 
shillings before the end of August. Each plantation was ordered to train the men 
monthly " & oftener the unskillful." A fine of five shillings was imposed upon absent sol- 

* The name of Andrew Warde is spelled in the Massachusetts Commission & occasionally in the Connecticut 
Records, Warner. 



APPENDIX 3 I 3 

diers ; & all not owning arms were to report to the next General Court. At a Court 
held the 21. of Feb. 1637, it was ordered that Newtown shall be called Hartford town, 
Watertown Weathersfield, and Dorchester Windsor. A law was passed that no single 
man not married & without servants, unless a public officer, should keep house by him- 
self without the consent of the town in which he lived, under a penalty of twenty shillings 
a week. Also " that no Mr. of a family, shall give habitation or entertainment to any 
young man to sojourn in his family, but by the allowance of the inhabitants of the said 
town where he dwells, under the like penalty of 20j'. per week." 

At a Court held on the 28. of March 1637 it was ordered, that every juryman should 
have six pence for each action given them upon evidence, " to be paid by him the action 
goes against." The spring of 1637 not only brought back those who had fled from the hard- 
ships of their first winter upon the Connecticut & many others with them ; but it also led 
to a decisive action on the part of Ludlow & his associates. It had undoubtedly been the 
aim of Ludlow upon leaving Massachusetts to establish a separate colony in Connecticut. 
In this movement he was sustained by his associates. The necessity of a promise of alle- 
giance to the Bay colony for one year at the outset of the emigration, was made impera- 
tive by the action of the General Court of Massachusetts. The population of the river 
towns at this early date, independent of Winthrop's twenty men at the Seabrook fort, num- 
bered about sight hundred souls, including two hundred & fifty adult men. 

In organizing the first Court, it was Ludlow who instituted trials before Jurors.* 
(Nov. 1636) He took great pains to keep the English settlements free from the intrusion 
of adventurers, that the family relations of the commonwealth might be built upon the 
healthy principles of christian morality. A law was passed that none should join the 
colony, but by a vote of the inhabitants of the town to which they applied for admission. 
The courage of Ludlow, as a leader, is shown in the action taken by this Court, in declar- 
ing war against the powerful Pequots, a step which can never be regarded as other than 
the salvation of all the New England colonies. Left to preside over Sc protect the 
inhabitants of Windsor, with the few men who remained to assist him after the expedition 
had embarked upon its perilous undertaking, he must have endured that strong tension 
of nerve which requires an iron will to control. His feelings at this moment are expressed 
in a letter written from within the palisadoe of Windsor, which he gave an Indian a new 
coat to carry to Mr. William Pynchon of Springfield. He wrote : " I have received your 
letter, wherein you express that you are well fortified, but few hands. For my part, my 
spirit is ready to sink within me, when, upon alarms, which are daily, I think of your con- 
dition, that if the case be never so dangerous, we can neither help you, nor you us. But I 
must confess, both you and ourselves do stand merely in the power of our God. . . 
Our plantations are so gleaned by that small fleet we sent out [He pleaded military 
necessity for taking Mr. Pynchon's boats without his leave; the boats were at or below 
'Warehouse Point'], that those that remain, are not able to supply our watches, which 
are day and night ; that our people are scarce able to stand upon their legs ; and, for 
planting, we are in a like condition with you : what we plant is before our doors — little 
anywhere else." 

While in this agony of suspense for himself & those whom he had been instrumental 

in leading to settle with him on the Connecticut, Ludlow must have indeed experienced 

as he declared in this letter " what it was to stand merely in the power of God." Never 

did more earnest prayers arise than he Sc those anxious, trembling hearts around him 

* See Sergeant Seely's action against the inhabitants of Watertown, Ct., Col. Rcc., Vol. 1., 4. 



314 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD 

offered before the Throne of Grace, while they awaited the return of Mason & his band. 
Greater therefore than any pen can depict, must have been his joy & the joy of all within 
the river settlements, when Mason with his band, out of which five only had been killed, 
returned in triumph. Every demonstration of happiness was made in the settlements, 
& never did more heartfelt thanksgiving ascend on High Without delay Ludlow 
assembled a General Court (June 26.), when it was resolved to prosecute the war against 
the Pequots. As the terror of annihilation at the hands of the Indians no longer existed, 
he resolved to accompany the army ; & with several gentlemen from Hartford, set out 
with Mason & his forces for the Pequot country. On their way thither his old friend 
Captain Israel Stoughton from Dorchester, with a band of Massachusetts men, joined the 
expedition. The flying Pequots themselves, now stricken with the terror of anndiilation 
were rapidly pursued through the forests of Quinnipiac, Cupheag, Pequonock, and Uiicoa 
to a swamp lying in the Sasqug fields, about twenty-five miles South-west of New Haven 
where, before another day had passed, Ludlow witnessed the complete overthrow of the 
most powerful enemy of the English in the colonies. The country he had passed through 
was one new to him. Its fine scenery & maritime advantages, left an impression upon 
his mind not to be effaced. Upon his return to Hartford his energies were employed in 
legislating for the benefit of the colony, establishing peace with the Indians on the river, 
and in supplying the impoverished inhabitants of the settlements, with the necessaries of 
life for the approaching winter. He was appointed one of a committee to send a vessel to 
Massachusetts for corn & other supplies for the colonists. He was also appointed with 
Mr. George Hull of Windsor, to traffic with the Indians for the inhabitants of that town, 
for beaver on the Connecticut. Committees were also appointed for the other two towns, 
& no others were allowed to trade with the Indians under a heavy penalty. 

The next step of importance taken by Ludlow and his associates towards making 
Connecticut an independent colony, was to enter into a voluntary combination for the 
maintenance of a " public state or commonwealth." During the long and tedious winter 
which followed the Pequot war, Ludlow with the council of his associates was engaged in 
preparing a frame of government for the colony. Here he had an opportunity to show 
his ability as a lawyer and a statesman. Here too a golden opportunity was offered him 
to triumph over those M'ho had so grievously wounded him in Massachusetts, in opening 
a wide and conciliatory policy, by allowing the civil franchise to rest, not upon church 
membership, but upon a good moral character. This instrument, was the first Constitu- 
tion, of Connecticut, and is the first example in history of a written constitution — a distinct 
organic law, constituting a government and defining its power. Of this Constitution Dr. 
Trumbull says : "With such wisdom did our venerable ancestors provide for the freedom 
and liberties of themselves and their posterity. Thus happily did they guard against every 
encroachment on the rights of the subjects. This probably is one of the most free and 
happy constitutions of civil government which has ever been formed." Judge Hollister 
writes : " I have compared this paper with those written by Milton, expressive of his views 
of government and of liberty. In the political writings of the great poet I can see the marks 
of unbounded genius, vast imagination, and prophetic hopes, lighting up the dim horizon 
with the golden promise of dawn. But I find in them no well digested system of repub- 
licanism. He deals alone with the absolute. His republic would befit only a nation of 
Miltons. His laws are fit only to govern those who are capable of governing themselves. 
But Ludlow views the concrete and the abstract at once. He is a man of system — such 
systems as can alone be placed in the hands of frail men to protect them against their worst 



APPENDIX 315 

enemies — their own lawless passions.'' Again the New England historian Dr. Palfrey 
writes : " The whole Constitution was that of an independent state. It continued in force 
with very little alteration, a hundred and eighty years, securing throughout that period, a 
degree of social order and happiness such as is rarely the fruit of civil institutions." He 
also says " The instrument, drawn with great care and knowledge, seems to bear the 
marks of the statesman-like mind of Haynes and the lawyer-like mind of Ludlow." 
That Ludlow sought the approval of Haynes, towards whom he appears to have exhibited 
no personal resentment, is probable ; but the instrument is one which e.\hibits the skill of 
a lawyer's mind and phraseology •, and when compared with Ludlow's Code of 1649, 
leads to the acknowledged conclusion, that whatever happy influences he employed at that 
time, no other hand than his drew the first Constitution of Connecticut. On the 1 1 . of April 
1639, the magistrates and freemen of Connecticut assembled at Hartford, and under the 
Constitution, proceeded to elect their officers " according to their order." John Haynes 
was chosen governor, and Roger Ludlow deputy governor. The election of Haynes at this 
time, must have been a severe disappointment to Ludlow, yet he could not have been wholly 
unprepared for it. Haynes had joined the colony during the latter part of the previous 
spring. He had been exceedingly popular while governor of Massachusetts, and his coming 
to Connecticut was considered a valuable acquisition to the colony. Probably on account 
of the dignity attached to his former office of governor, his name was placed before that 
of Ludlow's in the order of the list of magistrates, at the assembling of the General Court 
on the following November ; which could not have failed to give Ludlow a timely warning 
that he would probably be elected governor of Connecticut. Whatever disappointment 
Ludlow suffered at that time, he remained silent ; and as the freemen had not been given 
the privilege of holding a caucus, he no doubt felt that the election was the result of their 
honest vote. Experience had taught him that " truth is not to be spoken at all times " in 
a body politic, — at least, if" he had not learned the art so common in our age of telling 
the people precisely what he did not believe to be true," he had learned to master himself; 
and that his strength lay in silent submission to an injustice which was hard to bear. It 
may have been that this disappointment, which must have been more keenly felt than that 
which he had experienced in Massachusetts, led him to leave Windsor. The probability is, 
however, that the charming scenery, fine meadow and seaport advantages of the country 
near the borders of Long Island Sound, through which he had pursued the Pequots, 
influenced him, as soon as time and occasion served, to plant a colony near the spot of 
the final extermination of that hostile tribe. 

In granting his petition the General Court selected Pequonnock as the most desirable 
point for a settlement. The course afterwards pursued by the Court in censuring Lud- 
low for exceeding his instructions by settling at Uncoway instead of Pequonnock, and 
fining him five shillings for his absence from a court held in September, leads to the con- 
clusion, that there existed some jealous fear lest he might form another colony south of 
the New Haven Colony. Be this as it may, the dissatisfaction expressed by the General 
Court after his apology for the step he had taken, certainly exhibits the plain fact, that 
there was very little room to question his excellent judgment in the matter. On the con- 
trary, they might much better have given him a vote of thanks for securing to the Con- 
necticut Colony one of the most valuable tracts along the Sound. The Herculean work 
accomplished by Ludlow at Fairfield, ever vigilant, zealous and unwearying for her weal, 
gives him the well merited title of the Father of Fairfield. Here he was thrice chosen 
deputy governor of the colony and several times made a commissioner to the United 



3l6 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD 

Colonies of New England, when great emergencies called for the wisdom of the choicest 
minds. He was annually chosen one of the magistrates of the colony, and was not only 
the first judge of the highest court of Fairfield, but, after the organization of the town, its 
first military commander. " He was the first lawyer who came into Connecticut, & one 
of the greatest who has ever lived in the state." In his unpretentious home, situated on 
the corner of Ludlow and Windsor streets,* he compiled a code of laws, which many 
years afterwards, was destined to rank him among the leading statesmen of the age in 
which he lived. 

The sanction given by Ludlow to the declaration of war against the Dutch by the 
citizens of Fairfield, lie without doubt believed one of military necessity; but his unfor- 
tunate step in accepting the office of commander-in-chief was a rash act. There exists, 
however, no evidence to show that he, or the citizens of Fairfield, who thus honored him 
with their confidence, had the slightest idea of sedition. It was " the impulsive action of 
those, who, foreseeing their own imminent peril, and hopeless of recovering the needed aid 
from a source whence they had a right to expect it, resolved to rise in their own defense." 
Nor is there a shadow of evidence to show, that Ludlow or his fellow townsmen either 
sympathized with, or countenanced the seditious men, who lived in the towns under the 
New Haven government. On the contrary, it has been plainly shown, that he immediately 
notified New Haven of the step he had taken, and called upon them for armed men to 
assist in going against the Dutch, and that while the insurrectionists were under arrest 
at Fairfield, the inhabitants of the town assisted the New Haven officers to quell the 
tumult they had raised about the place of their confinement. 

Ludlow no doubt thought this a golden opportunity to bring the troublesome Dutch- 
men of New Amsterdam under the control of the New England colonies. The United 
Colonies had applied in 1653 to Cromwell " for help, shipping and forces " to prosecute a 
war against the Dutch, which were hourly expected to reach New England ; and certainly 
no more favorable opportunity could have offered for such a design, than while England 
was at war with Holland. There appears but little doubt, however, that the old jealousy 
which had existed toward him was strongly roused at this time, especially in the New 
Haven Colony, lest his ambition might tempt him to establish another colony, which should 
be more particularly under the control of the Mother-country, and perhaps more in sym- 
pathy with the views of the reformers in the Church of England. From this moment he 
became the victim of animadversion and persecution, especially among the inhabitants 
of New Haven; and there were persons who attempted to rank him among the enemies of 
the commonwealth. f The fact that his family in England, while opposed to the arbitrary 
course pursued by Charles I., were not friendly to Cromwell, might also have been another 
cause for awaking suspicion towards him. 

Disgusted with the sudden coolness of the magistrates of New Haven, who had advo- 
cated a war upon the Dutch with more zeal than any of the other colonies ; and had even 
declared that Massachusetts had broken the articles of confederation, in refusing to prose- 
cute a war against them, Ludlow resolved to leave the country. In his consciousness of 
no intentional guilt, his proud and sensitive spirit bowed under the humiliations heaped 
upon him. The suit brought against him by Thomas Staples for reporting, while visiting 

* At the present date, 1888, the property of O. B. Jennings. 

t In a letter sent to Robert Basset by Abraham Kimberly the statement was made that" Baxter," one of the 
ringleaders against the New Haven Colony, "was a rogue and Ludlow was another." — New Haven Col. Rec, 
Vol. n., 58. 



APPENDIX 317 

the Rev. Mr. Davenport of New Haven, the story that Mrs. Staples was suspected of 
witchcraft, &.C., thus making him responsible for the declarations of the witcli Knap, and 
a majority of the men and women of Kairtiekl, was another source of deep humiUation to 
him. The course afterwards pursued by the New Haven Colony in confiscating the vessel 
at Milford, which he had engaged to carry his family and effects to Virginia, must have 
filled him with indignation and almost a sense of degradation. 

For nearly two centuries the general belief prevailed that Ludlow went to Virginia, & 
there spent his days in seclusion ; but tliis was not the case. He undoubtedly went to 
Virginia with his family to pay a farewell visit to his brother George Ludlow, who lived 
in Yorktown. He very soon after left the country, & first settled at Dublin in Ireland. 
He appears to have followed his profession as a lawyer, for soon after his return, he was 
made one of a committee with Charles Cocke & Thomas Dunne, " to whom in July, 
1656, the Council at Whitehall referred the petition of Thomas Jenner, for restitution of 
goods, which had been taken from him at Boston, under a commission from Major Sedge- 
wick & Capt. Leveret."* Immediately after Cromwell's death he removed to Holly- 
head, an island in the county of Anglesia, North Wales, a parliamentary town of con- 
siderable importance, & the nearest British seaport to Dublin. It was here, while the 
name of Ludlow was an offense in the ears of the King, that he first ventured to take up 
his residence in his native country. 

Hitherto little has been known of Ludlow's family ; but the following document pre- 
sented to the author of this work by the late Joseph Lemuel Chester, D.C.L., LL.D., of 
London fone of Connecticut's most honored sous) only a few weeks before his death, 
affords an interesting & valuable clue to the family history of this remarkable man. 

124 Southwark Park Road, 
London. S. E. England. 
19 November 1881. 

Dear Madam 

The Pedigrees entered at the Herald's Visitation of Wiltshire give the descent of the family of Ludlow, of 
Hill Deverill in that county, the direct line of which is as follows : — 

IViitiam Ludlozu ^^yr . = .Margaret dau. & heir of Wm Rymer. 

Jo':tt Ludlow=-'Lor2i. dau. of Thos Ringwood. of Ringwood. Hants, 

John Z?/<//(?OT=Phillippa dau. of Wm Bulstrode, of London. , 

Williant Z.K(//ow=Joane dau. of Nichs More of Whitford. Hants. Esq. 

t 
George Ludlo-iv Esq. — 'S.dMx dau. of Andrew. Lord Windsor, 
eldest son and heir of Stanwell co Middlesex. 

She died in 1543. 



Edmund Ludlow Thomas Ludlow 

of Hill Deverill. Esq. 2d Son. 

Son & heir. 

This Thomas Ludlow is supposed to be the ancestor of the Ludlows of Warminster, Wilts, sometimes 
living & having estates at Maiden Bradley in that county, & at Butleigh co. Somerset. There is little, if any, 
doubt, that such was the case, & that he was the Thomas Ludlow with whom I am about to deal. He made his 

* Col. Papers Public Record Office, London, Vol. 13. 3. i. Extracted by Sir Anthony B. Strausham of 
London. 



3i8 



HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD 



Will on the 19. of November 1^07, describing himself as of Dinton, co. Wilts, Gentleman. To his daughter Anne, 
then under 21 years of age & unmarried, he bequeathed ;^ioo. His wife Jane was to have a certain annuity out of 
his lands at Butleigh, co. Somerset, which were to descend to Gabriel his son. His wife was also to have his 
household goods at Butleigh & at Warminster, Wilts, & to be his executrix. He made his brother, Sir Gabriel 
Pyle, Knight, overseer of the Will. 

The will was proved at London, in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury, on the 8th of June 1608, by the 
relict Jane Ludlow. How or why he came to be of Dinton at his death is unimportant. His identity is the chief 
question, & that is clear enough. His wife Jane survived him about 40 years, which shows that he must have died 
comparatively young. She made her Will on the loth of December 1646, describing herself as of Bayclifie,* 
Wilts, widow. The following is a full abstract of it:- " To the poor of Maiden Bradley 20 shillings, & of War- 
minster 20 shillings,— to my son Roger Ludlow, one oi my wedding rings ; and to my son George Ludlow, my 
other one — To Thomas, one of the sons of my son Gabriel Ludlow, £,s-\ to Francis, another of his sons, my nag 
colt& gilt silver salt ; and to John, another of his sons ;fio.— To Ann, Elizabeth & Sarah, daughtersof my said 
son Gabriel, each ;£io. The residue of my estate, to my daughter in law Phillis Ludlow, & 1 appoint her my 
executrix. The will was proved in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury, on the e'h of July 1650, by Phillis Lud- 
low the executrix." 

It is important to note just here that she made her daughter-in-law her executrix, instead of one of her sons 
which would ordinarily have been an unnatural proceeding. What was the probable cause for this ? Simply, that 
her eldest son Gabriel was already dead, & her other two sons, George & Roger, had emigrated to America. 
She therefore, most naturally, made the widow of Gabriel, who was still in England with her family, her residu- 
ary legatee & executrix, remembering, however, her two absent sons, by the bequests of rings. Nothing could be 
more clear than this. 

This Jane Ludlow, wife & widow of Thomas, was the sister of Sir Gabriel Pile, Kt., of Wiltshire, who 
died in 1627. The daughter Anne is not named in her mother's will, & was therefore probably dead. 

Gabriel Ludlow, the eldest son, was admitted to the Inner Temple, London, in November 1610, being 
described as of Butleigh, co. Somerset. He became a Barrister in 1620, & a Bencher in 1637. He was evi- 
dently dead at the date of his mother's will, in 1646, but I have been unable to find his will. His widow 
Phillis, made hers on the 12''}. of September 1657, & it was proved on the i8th of December following. All the 
children named in the Will of her mother-in-law were still living ; & to her son Thomas she bequeathed a ring 
that had been given to her by his " uncle George Ludlow." 

Roger Ludloiu was evidently the second son of Thomas & Jane Ludlow. He was also admitted to the Inner 

' Temple, in November 1612, being described as the son of Thomas Ludlow then of Maiden Bradley, but he does 

not appear to have become a Barrister. We here find, however, where & how he obtained his knowledge of legal 

matters, which stood him in stead in New England, & enabled him to compile that wonderful code known in 

modern history as the " Blue Laws." Of him more hereafter. 

George Ludlow, the youngest of the three brothers, also left a Will, which is fortunately on record in Lon- 
don, & which gives the clue to the solution of the whole mystery. The Will was dated on the 8* of September 
1655, & I give a full abstract of it. 

" I, George Ludlow, o/the county b' parish of York, in Virginia, Esquire, &c — To my nephew Thomas 
Ludlow, eldest son to my brother Gabriel Ludlow Esquire, deceased, & to his heirs forever, all my estate in 
Virginia, also my i6th of the Ship Mayflower, whereof Capt. W™ White is Commander, which I bought of Mr. 
Samuel Harwar, of London, Merchant, & I appoint him sole executor of my estate in Virginia, he to pay my 
now wife Elizabeth ;^5o. per anni;m for her life, in London, in full satisfaction of her claims on my estate. — My 
crop this year to be consigned to Mr. William Allen, of London, Merchant, & Mr. John Gray that lives at the 
Green Man on Ludgate Hill, & they to receive the monies due me from Mr. Samuel Harwar, at the Sun & 
Harp in Milk Street, London — To each of my brother Gabriel's children now m England ;£ioo, out of the pro- 
ceeds of said crop, & the residue of said proceeds to go to viy brother Roger Ludlow'' s children — To my 
said brother Roger £,100. which I lent him — To George, son to Col. Wm Bernard, my great silver tankard with 
my arms upon it." [Sundry small bequests to friends & other persons evidently not relations.] 

* Baycliff was a priory in the reign of Henry III, & was escheated to the Crown when the dissolution of 
religious houses was ordered by Henry VIII. at which time it was granted to Sir Edmund Seymour, Viscount 
Beuchamp, afterward Earl of Hertford & Duke of Summerset. It descended by entail to his son Edward Earl 
of Hertford, by a second marriage with Anne Stanhope, who, by her deed in 1601 sold it to Sir John Morley, 
Knight, & he the following year 1602 sold it to Sir Edmund Ludlow of Hill Deverill Knight, it being then occupied 
by Jane widow of Thomas Ludlow, by lease from Edward Earl of Hertford. The Ludlows of Hill Deverill held 
a lease of three lives in the Seymour estate. This estate covered 1420 acres of land. The Marquis of Bath 
now holds 103 acres, comprising the manor of Hill Deverill.— Hoar's Wiltshire. 



APPENDIX 319 

Codicil, dated 23''ti of October, 1655—" In case my said nephew Thomas Ludlow marry one Rebecca Hurst, 
now living in my house, I give my said estate in Virginia to Jonathan Ludlow, my nephew, eldest son of my 
brother Roger Ludlow, who lives at Dublin in Ireland, & he to be sent for &c.'' 

The Will was proved in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury, on the ist of August 1656, &, no executor being 
named as to the estate in England, Letters of administration, with the will annexed, were granted to Roger 
Ludlow, Esq., the father & curator assigned of Jonathan, Joseph, Roger, Anne, Mary, & Sarah Ludlow, 
minors, the nephews & nieces of the testator. 

Nothing could be more intelligible & decisive than this. It was George Ludlow who went to Virginia 
when he quitted New England, while Roger, on leaving there in 1654, returned to the old country, & in 1655 was 
living in Dublin. It will be noticed that Roger's daughter Sarah, whom Savage says afterwards married Rev. 
Nathaniel Brewster, is mentioned in the enumeration of his children. It seems impossible, with all these facts 
to doubt the complete identification. 

I have so far been unable to trace Roger Ludlow's history any later. I have not found his will here, & if he 
made one, & continued to reside at Dublin, it is no doubt in the Probate Registry there. I shall continue, as 
opportunity serves, to look for later intelligence about him & his family, as he was to some extent an historical 
personage, & if I discover any further facts they can perhaps be used on some future occasion. 

Believe me, Madam, 



Mrs. E. H. Schenck, 
Southport, Conn. 



Faithfully yours, 

Joseph Lemuel Chester, D.C.L., LL.D. 



Roger Ludlow married a sister of Governor John Endicott. It is probable that this 
marriage did not tai<e place until after he came to America* as none of his children were 
of age when he left New England. One of his children was born at Windsor, and proba- 
bly most of his other children were born at Fairfield. His daughter Sarah married 
Nathaniel Brewster. " She is represented as a person eminently distinguished for her 
genius and literary acquirements." Savage supposes her husband Nathaniel Brewster 
to have been a son of Francis Brewster of the New Haven Colony, and a nephew of the 
celebrated Elder Brewster, of the Plymouth Colony. He was a graduate in 1642 of the 
first class of Harvard College, and, on account of the liberality allowed at that time to all 
classes of cliristians, he with most of his class returned to England. He received the 
degree of B.D. from the Dublin University, and was settled as a minister over the parish 
of Alby in Norfolk County. It was during his residence in England that he married 
Sarah Ludlow. Upon the restoration of Charles II., Episcopacy being again restored, 
Brewster returned with his wife to New England, and from Oct. 1663 preached at 
the First Church in Boston. He was settled over the church of Brookhaven, Long Island, 
in 1665, where he continued his pastoral duties for the remainder of his life. He died in 
1690. Both he and his wife " were buried in the Presbyterian burying-ground of Setauket. 
but the inscriptions on their tomb stones are too much effaced to be read." They left 
three sons, John, Timothy, and Daniel, whose numerous descendants are still found 
there. t 

Capt. Caleb Brewster of Black Rock, who distinguished himself in the Revolution, was 
one of the descendants of the Rev. Nathaniel Brewster and his wife Sarah Ludlow. His 
grand-son, Caleb Brewster Hackley, who now resides at Black Rock, is the sole sur\'iving 
representative in Fairfield of this distinguished family. Still further light is thrown upon 
the family pedigree of Roger Ludlow, by Sir Anthony B. Strausham, of London. 

* The Memoirs of Governor Endicott, by William Cogswell, D D.— New England History and Genealogical 
Register, Vol. I., 203. 

t Savage's Genealogical Dictionary. 



320 



HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD 



" Arras of Ludlowe of Hulle als Hill Deverell, Co Wilts.— Argent a cheveron, between 3 bears heads, 
erased, sable. 

Harl. MS. 18S1 Fo. 116 [Abbreviated ;] 
William Ludlowe of Hill Deverel Co. Wilts. 
= Margaret dau. & heir of 
I William Rymer & of ... his wife 
dau. & heir of Willm Warnell. 

I 

John = 



John = 

H 

B. 1500 William = 



B. 1530 



George = 



B. 1560 



I Son Edmund = 2d son Thomas = Jane Pile * 



B. 1590 



I Son Henry = 



Edmund (the regicide, born 1620 d. 1692 at Vevay Switzerland.) S. P. Hoar's Wiltshire. 



" Thomas Ludlow was brother of Sir Edmund Ludlow, great uncle of the regicide ; he resided at Diton 
(' juxta Warminster ') and married Jane, daughter of Thomas Pyle, the sister of Sir Gabriel Pyle of Babton, Fish- 
erton de la Mere Wilts." Hoar's Wiltshire. 



The Pedigree of Roger Ludlow's mother Jane Pyle. 

Harl. MS. 1165, fo. 70. Wilts Visitation 1623. Arms of Pile — Argent on a cross 
gules, a martlet Argent, between 4 passion nails, gules impaling, or on a bend azure, 
three pheons or. 

-- - Elizab. : dau. Rad. 

Laugrish (') of Boodon 

Son Laugrish 

of Laugrish in Co. Somerset 

(should be Laudgridge) 



Thomas Pile of 

Babton in Co Wilts 
Son & heir 



Christian 
wife . . . 
Ea-th de 
Com. 



Anna wife 
Tho's. Browne 
of Martin 
Sho . . . . Wilts 



Gabriel Pile 
of Bubton in 
Co. Wilts 
Soldier 



I 
Anna dau. of Thomas 
Porter of Newarke 
in Com. citizen 
Glouc 
Soldier 



Jane wife of 
Tho's. Ludlow 
near War- 
minster., (*) 
in Wilts 



I 
Francis Pile 
Son & heir aged 
34 years time of 
Visitation 1623 



I 
Elizab. dau. 2 
Francis Popham ^) 
of Little cott 
Co Wilts 



I 
Tho's. Pile 
2. Son 
aged 33. 



3 Willm (4) 



4 Gabriel (») 28. 



Elizab. 
a. 1)4 years 



2 Amia 
a 6 months 



(Signed) Thomas Pile 



Francis Pile Seamour 

oldest son 2 son 

a. 6 years a. 5 years 

1623 1623 

Harl. 1393. fo. 24. 246 slight mention. 

Harl. iiii fo. 96. " Sir Gabriel Pyle of Bubton in Wiltshire had issue. Francis Pyle Esqu. m.— dau. of Sir 
Thomas Porter." 

' Langridge. " Father & mother of Roger Ludlow. ^ Sir Francis Popham. < Third son William ought to be 32. 

^ Winterslow church Hundred Aldersbury " under this marble slab lieth buried Gabriel Pile Esqf . fourth 
Sonne of Sir Gabriel Pile Kt ; who departed this life xxiii Daye of August 1639."—" Sir Gabriel Pile probably 
born 155Q, his sister Tane 1560."— Research of Sir Anthony B. Strausham. London, Eng. 

" Gabriel Ludlow, son of Thomas Ludlow and Jane Pyle, in 1638 alienated Baycliff to his brother Thomas, 
preparing for a voyage to New England,— more fortunate than some others who were prevented, he actually 
performed the voyage — no clear proof he ever returned." — Hoar's Wiltshire. 

* Father & mother of Roger Ludlow. 



APPENDIX 321 

Here is the solution why Mrs. Jane Ludlow appointed Phillis, the wife of the above 
Gabriel, as her executrix. Her son, Gabriel, no doubt died soon after he reached Amer- 
ica.* No mention as yet, has been found of any other Gabriel Ludlow, living in America 
but Gabriel Ludlow who settled in New York in 1697. 

It is a singular circumstance, that the name of Roger Ludlow should not be men- 
tioned in the Herald Visitations of Wilts County. t His identity is only established by his 
mother's will, and in that is abundant proof that he was her second son. His father must 
have been born between 1562 and 1565, and married to Jane Pyle when young, for 
Roger as early as November 1612 had been admitted to the Inner Temple in London. 
Admitting that he was about twenty years of age at that time, he must have been nearly 
forty when he came to New England in 1630 ; and over sixty when he returned to 
England. 

It is plainly to be seen by this valuable paper that Jane Pyle, the mother of Roger 
Ludlow, was the sister of Sir Gabriel Pyle, Kt. ; and own aunt of Elizabeth Pyle, wife of 
Sir Fraqcis Popham, which made Roger Ludlow an own cousin of Sir Francis Popham 
(the son of Chief Justice John Popham, and nephew of Sir George Popham), who contin- 
ued the efforts of his father to form a permanent settlement on the coast of Maine begun 
at Sagadahoc in 1607. J 

It has been shown from the above pedigree of Roger Ludlow, that his father, Thomas 
Ludlow, was an uncle of Sir Henry Ludlow (who was a member of the Long Parliament 
in 1640 from Wiltshire), and great-uncle of Lieut. Gen. Edmund Ludlow the regicide. 
The latter in his memories mentions his cousin Roger Ludlow. Lieutenant-general 
Edmund Ludlow, was one of the judges of the court which condemned Charles I. to death. 
He acquired high renown as a soldier and orator in the civil struggle of that period. By 
the sudden death of Ireton in 1607 the command of the English army in Ireland, devolved 
upon him. " While he was one of the strongest advocates in England for the liberties of 
the people against the encroachments of the crown, he opposed the aspirations of Crom- 
well to the protectorate, and failing in this, he fled from England and took up his residence 
in Vevay Switzerland." He is sometimes called the Republican General. Soon after the 
ascension of Charles II. to the throne, he ventured to return to England, but the king 
immediately stripped him of his estates, and he w^as obliged to flee from the kingdom for 
his life. He returned to Vevay, where he resided until his death in 1693. His remains 
were buried under the Cathedral of St. Martin's at Vevay and near his tomb are those of 
Broughton, Gawler and Love. While at Vevay he wrote a valuable history of the 
stormy period in which he lived, entitled " Memoirs of Lieutenant General Edmund 
Ludlow." 

* In the Memoirs of Gen. Edmund Ludlow, he mentions his cousin, Capt. Gabriel Ludlow, as having- fallen 
in the obstinate contest of Newbery, 24 Sept 1644. An old Common Place book, compiled by one John Ludlow 
of Warminster about 1720, makes the above Capt.^ Gabriel Ludlow a resident of Baycliff. 

In 1633 Gabriel Ludlow, son of Thomas and Jane, styled Receiver General of the Duchy of Lancaster, by his 
deed of settlement, declares himself to be then seized of Baycliff in demesne as of fee. He had four children, 
Gabriel, Thomas, Francis and Anne baptized at Warminster, where, with his brother Thomas he held the prebend. 
He had other children baptized at Maiden Bradley, being then called of Baycliff Esqr. In 1638 he alienated Bay- 
cliff to his brother Thomas and prepared for a voyage to New England &c. — Hoare's Wiltshire. 

+ Since writing the above ttie author has had access to the English County publications now in^he Congres- 
sional Library of the Capitol at Washington, D. C. In Vol. I. of Hoards Wiltshire, he regrets that the church 
records of Hill Deverill should have been destroyed which would have thrown much light upon the interesting 
history of the Ludlow family. 

% See '■ Relation of a Voyage to Sagadahoc," by Rev. B, F. De Casta 



322 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD 

His family were dispersed under Cromwell. 

Among the Domestic Reports to be found in the British Museum is the following 
statement : 

" A° 1664, No. 27, Jan. ^, Rotterdam "H Parker to John Thompson (alias Ed Riggs, 10 Sec. Bennet) 
There are more fanatics in Rotterdam than anywhere else. Understand that Wheeler and Ludlow are in the 
Holland plantations in New England & are reported well." 

The Ludlow referred to at this time, was no doubt some near relative of Lieut. Ed- 
mund Ludlow, and probably the Henry Ludlow who was made a freeman by the General 
Court of Connecticut, May 12, 1664, to whom with several others, the commissioners of 
Huntington L. I., were appointed " to administer the oath of freedom."* 

One Gabriel Ludlow f came to New York in 1694, and married, April 15, 1697, 
Sarah, daughter of the Rev. Joseph Hamner, D.D., deceased, chaplain to His Majesty's 
forces in the Province of New York in America. He was one of the first vestrymen of 
Trinity church New York in 1697. — -Their son William Ludlow married Mary Duncan 
Aug. 10. 1731. — Their son Gabriel William Ludlow, married Aug. 28. 1764, Cornelia, 
daughter of Charles Crooke, who was the son of John Crooke, one of the first vestrymen 
of Trinity church New York in 1697. Their son Charles Ludlow, married Elizabeth, 
daughter of David Van Horn and Elizabeth French (daughter of Philip French, N. Y.) 
Their children were Cornelia Ann, born June 13. 1788, and Elizabeth. Cornelia Ann 
married Abraham Willink May 2. 1816, who died 31 of May 1852. He was the son of 
William Willink, an eminent banker and financier in Amsterdam, Holland, who was an 
early friend of the American Republic, and rendered great service to the country by 
making the first loan. He was also one of the original holders in the property of the 
Holland Land Company. Elizabeth Ann Willink died 18. of November 1865. Her sister 
Elizabeth Ludlow perpetuated the family name by erecting Ludlow and Willink Hall 
of St. Stephen's College Annandale, N. Y. to her memory.:): 

There is reason to believe that Gabriel Ludlow who came to New York in 1694, was 
the progenitor of the Ludlovvs of New York and New Jersey, and that this branch of the 
Ludlow family did not become extinct as has been thought upon the death of Elizabeth 
Ludlow and her sister Mrs. Cornelia Ann Wilkins. It does not appear whose son the 
above Gabriel was, but probably of a grandson of Gabriel the brother of Roger Ludlow, or 
of some collateral branch of his family. The name Gabriel occurs frequently in Hoar's 
copy of the Wiltshire parish records. The Virginia Ludlows, are probably descendants of 
Thomas son of Gabriel and his brother Roger Ludlow. 

The Ludlows were an ancient and worthy family from Shropshire, from whence they 
removed to Wiltshire after the Castle of Ludlow was confiscated in the reign of Henry I. 
" They possessed such an estate as placed them in the first rank of gentlemen ; and their 
personal merits, usually concurring with their fortunes, gave them just pretenses as 
knights of the Shire, to stand as candidates to represent their county in Parliament, an- 
honor they seldom failed to attain." 

Wiltshire is celebrated for its British and Roman antiquities. But a short distance 
from the road leading to Long Bridge Deverill is the little sequestered village of Hill Dev- 
erill, where, in two fields immediately behind the parish church, are to be seen the usual 

* Col. Rec. Conn., Vol. I., p. 428. 

+ This Gabriel Ludlow was born Nov. 2. 1663 at Castle Bay in Somerset Co., and was a son of Gabriel 
Lutilow of Trome (Somerset). Letter of Thomas W. Ludlow of Yonkers, N. Y. 
J Laying of the Corner-Stone of Ludlow and Willink Hall, 1866. 



APPENDIX 323 

irregularities in the ground, which mark the site of a British settlement ; and in cUgging 
are to be found the pottery, bricks and Hues of the Romanized Britons. Near by, in the 
woods of Southby, are earth works ahnost square in form, containing in its area within 
the ditch, about three-quirters of an acre of ground, called Robin Hood's Bower. The 
church, which contains the Ludlow & Coker tomb, with the armorial bearing of this 
family, is a small building situated on the east bank of the river Wiley, a short distance 
from the ancient mansion-house of the Ludlows Sc Cokers. 

Gen. Edmund Ludlow inherited the estate of his father Henry Ludlow of Hill Deverill. 
He dying childless, what was left of his estate after its confiscation, passed into the pos- 
session of the Coker family, by the marriage of Elizabeth, daughter and sole heir of Sir 
Henry Ludlow of Sedley with Sir Henry Coker, 3d son of William Coker Esqr. of May- 
powder Co. Dorset. It next fell into the possession of Thomas Coker, who. Hoar says, 
lived long enough to see the end of their once ample possessions. 

" The village of Monkton Deverill presents a mean app)earance ; but the traveler, on riding through it, will 
be somewhat surprised at seeing inserted in the wall of a dwelling-house, now occupied by a wheelwright, a very 
handsome escutcheon of arms, engraved within a rich border ; and as his curios;ty will be naturally excited to 
know the -iu/iy and the ivhere/ore it became so degraded, I shall give him the best account of it I have been 
able to procure. 

The shield incloses six quarterings. It is surmounted by a helmet, and has two animals as supporters. Beneath 
the escutcheon are two tablets with a tree in their centre, to which three animals (apparently dogs) are running for 
shelter. One of these tablets has these letters inscribed on it, Rvina Premcnti ; the other, Svbe^tibvs vmbra, 
the letter n being left out. The first and sixth arms on this shield are those of Ludlow ; viz. Argent^ a chevron 
between three martins' heads erased Sable. The second represents the arms of Rymer ; Gules, a tree eradicated 
Or, summounted by a greyhound Argent, collared Sable. The third those of Bulstrode : Sable, a stag's head ca- 
boshed Argent; between the attires a cross Or, transpierced through the nostrils by an arrow of the last, barbed 
and flighted of the second, vulned Gules. The fourth are the bearings of More : Argent, two bars Azure between 
ten martlets four, three and three. Gules. The fifth those of Coker : ylrftwi', on a bend Cz^/fj three leopards' 
faces Or, alluding to the marriage of Sir Edmund Ludlow with Bridget, daughter and heir of Henry Coker, of 
Mapowder, co Dorset. These are the arms of Ludlow, of Hill Deverill, co Wilts, as annexed to the record of the 
pedigree of that family at the Herald's Visitation of the County of Wilts, anno 1565. 

The animals on each side of the shield appear to be supporters ; but being headless I am at a loss to know 
what animals they were intended to represent, but probably martins ; and I cannot learn that this family had a 
right to supporters. 

These pretended supporters can have no reference to those borne by Earl Ludlow, the lineal descendant of 
the Ludlows of Hill Deverill, viz., two stags : and I am inclined to attribute to Edmund, son of Henry of Tadley, 
this curious shield of arms, and the motto of ruina premeniz subeuntibus utnbra, with the device of three 6.o%s 
running to a tree for shelter, might allude to the hard usage which the aforesaid Edmund met with from his 
family, and of which he complains in his Will : and under the three dogs may be figured his three brothers, 
the authors of his persecution." * 

A Strong effort has been made by the author to ascertain some history of the last days 
of Roger Ludlow after he settled at Hollyhead ; but thus far it has proved fruitless. There 
may be some truth in the tradition tliat he spent his last days in Virginia, while guardian 
of his children's rights in the estate of his brother George Ludlow. It has been ascer- 
tained that his wife died in England, but no record of his death has thus far been found 
there. This is to be regretted, as his life in New England is so valuably interwoven with 
its early history. He was certainly not only one of the most remarkable men who lived 
in New England, but one who rendered great service in establishing the government of 
Connecticut on a basis so firmly and truly republican in its principles, that he justly merited 
the honor of being called the Father of Connecticut Jurisprudence. Had he remained 
in New England, he would undoubtedly have distinguished himself in adding further 
luster to Connecticut and to the town of Fairfield. 

♦ Hoarc's Wihshire, \'ol. L, 177, 17S, 



324 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD 

No. II 

SUIT OF THOMAS STAPLES AGAINST ROGER LUDLOW 
NEW HAVEN COL. REC. VOL. 3. 77-89 

On the 29. of May 1654 the famous slander suit of Thomas Staples against Roger 
Ludlow, was brought before the Court at New Haven. Governor Eaton Deputy Gover- 
nor Stephen Goodyear, Francis Newman, William Fowler & William Leete presided as 
judges at the trial. John Banks of Fairfield appeared as attorney for Thomas Staples, & 
Ensign Alexander Bryan of Milford for Roger Ludlow. John Banks opened the case, 
stating that Mr. Ludlow had defamed Mrs. Staples' character by reporting to Mr. & Mrs. 
Davenport of New Haven, " that Mrs. Staples had laid herself under a new suspicion of 
being a witch," that she was exceedingly untruthful ; that she had openly denied the witch 
goodwife Knapp bore the marks of a witch upon her person; & that goodwife Knapp told 
him at the time of her execution that Mrs. Staples was a witch. 

Mr. Davenport was then asked to make oath to his testimony, which he at first declined 
to do, on the ground that he regarded an oath an ordinance of God for confirmation of 
truth, to end strife among men according to Heb. 6. 16, " but afterwards declared as fol- 
lows : That while sitting one evening with him & Mrs. Davenport alone, Mr. Ludlow 
talked with him about Knapp's wife, the witch; & told them that at her execution she 
came down from the ladder & desired to speak with him alone, at which time she 
informed him who the witch was, spoken of by goodwife Basset the Stratford witch ; & 
that upon his or his wife's asking who it was, Mr. Lufllow said she named goodwife Staples. 
Mr. Davenport replied that he believed it utterly untrue, & spoken out of malice." Mr. 
Ludlow answered he hoped better of her, but said she was a foolish woman. He then 
related to them, that Mrs. Staples with some other women in Fairfield, examined goodwife 
Knapp's body after her execution, to find some marks of a witch ; & Mrs. Staples declared 
that Knapp's wife " had no more marks of a witch upon her than she had." Mr. Daven- 
port said " he disliked what Mr. Ludlow had told him, not having heard anything from 
others in that particular, either for or against her ; but supposed Mr. Ludlow told it from 
such intelligence as satisfied him." He said that Ludlow spoke of the matter in a con- 
fidential way & requested them not to mention what he had said; but did not remember 
that either he or his wife promised secrecy, because " he was careful not to make unlawful 
promises ; but when he did, through the help of Christ, he was careful to keep it." 

Mrs. Davenport testified that, while Ludlow was staying at her house, & speaking of 
the execution of Knapp's wife, " (he being free in his speech) " to the best of her remem- 
brance she heard him say, Knapp's wife came down from the ladder, & told him that 
goodwife Staples was a witch ; «& that she overheard him tell Mr. Davenport about Mrs. 
Staples saying, if Knapp's wife had the marks of a witch, she also had them ; but did not 
remember giving a promise of secrecy. Mrs. Thomas Sherwood of Fairfield testified, 
that in a debate between Ludlow & Mrs. Staples, she heard Ludlow charge goodwife 
Staples " with a tract of lying several times." The wife of Nathan Gold testified, that in 
a quarrel in the church between Ludlow & Mrs. Staples, she heard the latter ask Ludlow 
" to show her where she had told one lie ; & Mr. Ludlow said she need not mention par- 
ticulars, for she had gone on in a tract 0/ lying." 

John Thompson of Fairfield testified to the same effect. Ludlow's counsel, Ensign 
Bryan, then offered several testimonials in writing upon oath, taken by Mr. Wells & Lud- 



APPENDIX 325 

low. John Banks objected to the reading of the testimonials, as some of them were in 
the hand writing of Ludlow, which he did not consider were as satisfactory as if they had 
been taken by some disinterested person. He also took exception to them, on the ground 
that they had not been attested by some public officer. The affidavit of Hester, wife of 
Andrew Ward, taken on the 13. of May, was then read, which was to the effect, that she 
visited goodwife Knapp in prison the following day after she had been condemned as a 
witch; at which time she of her own free will informed her, that goodwife Staples had told 
her about an Indian woman, who had l)rought her " two little things brighter than the 
light of day," which she pronounced " to be Indians gods, as the Indians called them," &: 
if she would keep them, " she would be so big rich, all one god." Mrs. Staples told her 
she thought she returned them to the Indian woman, but could not distinctly remember 
whether she did or not. 

The affidavit of Lucy, wife of Thomas Pell of Fairfield, of tlie same date, was next 
read. Mrs. Pell testified that about the day after goodwife Knapp was condemned, the 
wife of the Rev. John Jones urged her to go with her to the prison where the witch, who 
had sent for her, was confined ; that she with Mrs. Andrew Ward accompanied Mrs. 
Jones to the prison, & heard the witch say word for word what Mrs. Ward had testi- 
fied. She further declared that she was one of the women, who had been appointed by 
the court to search the said Knapp before she was condemned ; & that both she & Mrs. 
Jones " pressed her, the said Knap, to confess whether there were any others that were 
witches, because goodwife Basset, when she was condemned, said there was another 
witch at Fairfield that held her head full high, & then she said, goodwife Knap, stepped a 
little aside, & told her that goodwife Basset meant not her. She then asked her whom 
she meant, & she named goodwife Staples ; & then she uttered the same speech as for- 
merly about the Indian gods." Elizabeth & Mary Brewster's & Mrs. Robert Lockwood's 
affidavits were next read, all corroborating the account Ludlow had given at the Rev. Mr. 
Davenport's house. 

Thomas Shervington's, Christopher Comstock's, & Mrs. Nathaniel Baldwin's affi- 
davits followed. Each testified, that upon asking goodwife Knapp, if she knew of any 
other witch in the town, she replied " there were some or one, that had received Indian 
gods that were very bright." "The said Mrs. Baldwin asked her, how she could tell if 
she were not a witch herself ; & she said they partly told her so, & her husband was 
witness to it, & to this they all swore." The affidavit of Rebecca, wife of Cornelius Hull 
and daughter of the Rev. John Jones, stated " that, when goodwife Knapp was going to 
execution, Mr. Ludlow & her father Mr. Jones pressed the said Knap to confess that she 
was a witch ; upon which goodwife Staples said, why should she, the said Knap, confess 
that she was not & after, she, the said goodwife Staples had said so, one that stood by 
said, why should she say so ? & then Staples replied she had no doubt if the said Knap 
were one, she would confess it." 

Deborah Lockwood, who was about seventeen years of age, testified " that when 
goodwife Knap was going to execution between Try's field & the mill,* she heard 
goodwife Staples say to goodwife Gould, she was persuaded goodwife Knap was no 
witch. Goodwife Gould said, sister Staples, she is a witch, & hath confessed she has 
had familiarity with the Deuiil. Mrs. Staples replied, I was with her yesterday, or last 
night, & she said no such thing as she heard." 

The affidavit of Bethia Brundish taken on the 26. of April stated, that while goodwife 
* Thomas Morehouse's Mill, near Black Rock bridge. 



326 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD 

Knapp was on the way to execution, with Deborah Lockwood & Sarah Cable, they heard 
goodwife Gould reprove Mrs. Staples, for saying she did not think goodwife Knap was a 
witch. This testimony was witnessed by Andrew Ward, signed as follows : 

Jurat die et armor p' dicto, 
Coram me, 

Ro. Ludlowe — 

Goodwife Whillock on the 25. of May testified, that while she with several otiier women 
was looking for the mark of a witch upon goodwife Knapp they found none ; but upon 
some slight blemish being pointed out, goodwife Staples gave in, and said she must have 
been a witch. 

The affidavits of Goodwife Barlow, Mrs. Richanl Lyon, Mrs. George Squire & Mrs. 
John Thompson corroborated this statement. 

Mrs. Thomas Sherwood testified before the Court, that upon the day goodwife Knapp 
was condemned, she with goodwife Odell, Mistress Pell & her two daughters Elizabeth & 
Mary, goody Lockwood & goodwife Purdy, visited her in prison, & urged her to confess if 
she knew of any other witches in the town. She also met there on the following day, the 
Rev. John Jones, Mistress Pell & her two daughters, and others, when she heard Mistress 
Pell advise goodwife Knapp to do as the Stratford witch did, to confess if she knew of 
any other witches in the town, & thus receive such consolation from Mr. Jones, as would 
be for her soul's welfare. Goodwife Knapp replied, " she must not say anything which 
was not true, she must not wrong anybody, & what had been said to her in private, 
before she went out of the world, when she was upon the ladder she would reveal to Mr. 
Ludlow or y"^ minister. Elizabeth Brewster said if you keep it a little longer till you come 
to the ladder, the Deuill will have you quick, if you reveal it not till then. Goodwife 
Knap replied, take heed the devile have not you, for she could not tell how soon she might 
be her companion ; & added, the truth is, you would have me say that goodwife Staples is 
a witch ; but I have said enough to answer ibr already, & I hope I shall not add to my 
condemnation, & I know nothing by goodwife Staples, & I hope she is an honest 
woman." Goodwife Lockwood then said "Goodwife Knap what ails you; goodman 
Lyon pray speak, did you hear us name goodwife Staples' name since we came here." 
Lyon desired her to be careful what she said, & not make disturbance between neighbors 
after she was gone. To this goodwife Knapp replied : " goodman Lyon hold your 
tongue, you know not what I know. I have ground for what I say. I have been fished 
withal in private more than you are aware of. I apprehend good wife Staples hath done 
me some wrong in her testimony . . . but I must not render evil for evil." Goodwife Sher- 
wood then advised Mrs. Knapp to speak to the jury, for she had not heard Mrs. Staples 
witness contrary to the other witnesses, & she supposed they would inform her. that the 
last evidence did not convict her. Goodwife Knap then said, she had been told so 
within half an hour, & requested all to leave the prison, but Mrs. Sherwood & the Rev. 
Mr. Jones, that she might speak with them in private. She then desired Mrs. Sherwood 
to state to Mr. Jones, what had been said against goodwife Staples the day before ; who 
replied that she did not hear goodwife Staples mentioned, & urged her to open her 
mind fully to Mr. Jones. 

Mrs. Sherwood further testified, " that upon coming into the house where the witch 
was kept, she found only the wardsman & goodwife Baldwin there ; & that the latter 
whispered in her ear &said, goodwife Knapp had told her: " that a woman in the town was 



APPENDIX 327 

a witch, & would be hanged within twelve months, & would confess herself a witch, & 
clear her from being^ pronounced a witch ; & that she asked her how she knew she was a 
witch, & she told her she had received Indian gods of an Indian, which were shining 
things, which shine lighter than the day." Mrs. Sherwood then asked goodwife Knapp if 
she had said so, which she firmly denied ; saying, " that she knew no woman in the town 
that was a witch, nor any woman that had received Indian gods, but she said there was an 
Indian at a woman's house, who had offered a couple of shining things, but the woman 
never told her she took them, but was afraid &; ran away, & she did not know that the 
woman ever took them." 

Mrs. Sherwood went out to speak with Thomas Shervington one of the wardsmen, 
who said he did not remember that Knapp said a woman in the town was a witch & 
would be hanged ; but heard her speak something about shining things. Kester, Mr. 
Pell's man, wiio stood near, said : " I remember, as they were going to the grave, good- 
wife Staples said, it was long before she could believe goodwife Knap a witch, or that 
there were any witches, till the word of God convinced her, which sailh, thou shalt not 
suffer a witch to live." 

Thomas & Richard Lyon corroborated the statement of Mrs. Pell, her daughter & 
Mrs. Ward & Mrs. Lockwood. 

Mrs. Nathan Gold, upon oath before the Court testified, that at the time she accom- 
panied Mrs. Sherwood to see the witch, she advised her, if she knew anything upon good 
grounds to tell it, but if she did not to take heed that the Divel did not persuade her to 
sow malicious seed to do hurt when she was dead ; that as she was about to die she 
should speak the truth. At this goodwife Knapp burst into tears & asked Mrs. Gold to pray 
for her, for she knew not how she was tempted. Mrs. Gold also stated that while on the 
way to the execution with Mrs. Thomas Bulkley, Mrs. Thomas Sherwood & Mrs. Staples, 
she heard Mrs. Staples say, " that it was a good while before she could believe Knap's 
wife a witch ; & that for a good while she could not believe there were any witches, & it 
was not until she went to the word of God that she was convinced." 

Ensign Bryan then addressed the Court, and asked time to prepare and answer a 
charge, which he had not heard before. The plaintiff & defendant were then allowed to 
address the Court, after which the following decision was rendered. 

The court having considered what had been said & proved on both sides, though not 
fully satisfied with the evidence presented by Ensign Bryan, were " wilting to receive 
the testimony given on the other side, yet they could ndt justify Mr. Ludlow in defaming 
expressions against Mrs. Staples," although he said, " he\onsidered them not true. . . 
yet they tended to defamation ; the Court in their sentence shall incline to more favor if 
Mr. Ludlow were here ; but the third part of the charge being left to another time." . . 
" for the former part of the charge they see no cause to lay the blemish of a witch upon 
goodwife Staples, but must judge that Mr. Ludlow had done her a wrong; & therefore, 
ordered that he should pay to Thomas Staples, by way of fine, for reparation of his 
wife's name, ten pounds, & for his trouble & charge in following the suit five more." 

At the assembling of the General Court of New Haven on the 18. of Oct. following, 
Thomas Staples brought forward the third charge against Ludlow, for saying that Mrs. 
Staples had gone on in a tract of lying," which had been formerly proved by three wit- 
nesses, whose affidavits were again read before the Court. Ensign Bryan declined to con- 
tinue the case, having nothing to say against the charge. The Court then decided, " that 
considering the nature of the charge, & Mrs. Staple's relations to the church at Fairfield, 



328 



HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD 



& the censure such a course if proved might have brought upon her, by way of sentence, 
ordered, that Mr. Ludlow pay to Thomas Staples, toward repairing his wife's name so 
defamed, with trouble & charge in prosecuting, the sum of ten pounds."* 

Thus ended this absurd trial, which, according to the testimony given, shows that 
Ludlow was made to suffer for the sins of others, as well as for his own. Thomas Staples 
proved himself a right loyal husband in taking time by the forelock, & putting at bay any 
effort to prove his wife a witch. The decision of the Court produced a happy result 
throughout the town of Fairfield & its vicinity, by effectually banishing the mania of 
witchcraft for many years. 

APPENDIX No. Ill 
" A list of y^ names of y* freemen of towne of Fairefield. Oct. 1669. 



Jno: Odell . 
■ James Bennett. 

Math : Sherwood. 

Richd. Hubball. 

Jno. Wheeler. 

Ezekiell Sanford. 

The : Morehouse. 

Sam" Morehouse. 

Natil Seely. 

Robt Turney. 
~Tho: Bennet. 



Tho : Jones. 
Mr. Nathan Gold. 
Mr. Willm Hill. 
Willm Ward. 
Natll Burr. 
John Buckley. 
Mr. Jehu Burr. 
John Banks. 
John Palmer. 
Cornelius Hull. 
Jno. Burr. 



Joshua Knowles. 
John Cable Senr. 
Humphry Hide. 
Jno. Hide. 
Peter Coley. 
Jno Knowles. 
Jno Sturge. 
Danli Lockwood. 
Jno Cable junr. 
Mr. Danll Burr. 
Richd Ogden. 



Dan'l Frost. 
Joseph Lockwood. 
John Green senr. 
Simon Croilch. 
Samll Ward. 
John Barlow. 
Robert Beacham. 
Mr. Wakeman. 
Henry Jackson. 
Henry Rowland. 
Thomas Staples. 

Oct. 10, 1669 



John Sturgis, select man. 
Peter Clapham, select man. 
John Knowles, select man. 
William Ward, Nathaniell Burr, Constables." 
Col. Rec. Conn. II. 521. 



No. IV 



A list of y- lots drawn for Sasqua Land in y^ New field Feb. 8. 1668/69. 



Jno. Odell 66 

Js : Wheelr 54 

Ja: Bennet 47 

Math : Sherwood 62 

Rid.Hubbell 16 

Jno. Wheelr 67 

Rogr. Knapp 57 

Robt. Turny 17 

Thos. Benet 36 

Ja : Beers 05 

Jos : Middlebk 32 

Thos. Jones 31 

Thos. Wilson 06 

Willm. Hill 53 

Francis Bradley 50 

Thos. Sherwood 48 

Mrs Jones 08 

Ja: Gray 21 

Jehu Burr 33 

Jno. Banks 68 

Obd. Gilbert 02 

Stepn. Hedge 25 

Cor:Hull 69 

Jno. Burr 65 

Hen: Rowland 35 

Ben jn Turny 40 

Jno. Cable sr 28 

Richd. Osburn 14 

Josiah Knowles 23 

J. Sherwington 03 



Hump: Hide 29 

Petr. Coly 26 

Jno. Hide 52 

Pr. Clapham 20 

Jno. Knowles 61 

Mr. Gold 56 

Willm. Ward 49 

Mr Pell 58 

Nathil. Burr 34 

Andrew I 

& Ward 13 

Samll I 

Danll Lockwood 7 37 

W. Wilson 55 

Bulkly SI 

Jos. Jennings 45 

Thos. Staples 46 

Rich. Lyon 43 

Thos. Grumon 44 

Robt. Meacar 18 

Jno. Tompkins 19 

Thos. LyoQ, 38 

Jno. Sturgis 15 

Jno. Cable jr 63 

S. Drake 30 

G. Smith 42 

Jno. Barlow sr 41 

Jno. Barlow jr 12 

Samll. Smith 11 



* Col. Rec. New Haven, II. 77-89 & 122. 



APPENDIX 



329 



Robt. Rumsie 24 

Richd. Ogden 10 

Dan" Frost 01 

Robt Beachem 07 

Couch & Andrus 22 

Jno. Green 64 



Jos : Lockwood .... 59 

P. Norton 39 

Mr. Wakeman 60 

SarnU VV ilson 09 

Danll Burr 27 

Samll Tredwell 04 



B. Town Votes p. 15. 



No. V 



Names of persons who sliared in the second division of the Sasqua Lands Jan 30. 

1668/69. 

Jno. Odell 35 

Isaac Wheel' 36 

• Jas. Bennet 69 

Math. Sherwood 64 

Ricd. Hubb'i 23 

Jno. Wheelr 16 

Roff : Knap 4 

Rob : Turny 19 

Mr. Pell 08 

Nathll Burr 45 

And. Ward 18 

Danll Lockwood : 56 

W. Wilson 51 

Sam" Tred w^ll 50 

Jno Buckley 48 

os: Jennings 02 

Thos. Staples 14 

Ric: Lyon 09 

Jno. Grumcn.. 03 

Rob: Meacar 01 

J.Tompkins 49 

Francis Bradley 58 

Thos. Sherwood 46 

Mrs. Jones 22 

Ja. Gray 52 

Jehu Burr. 59 

. Banks 43 

O. Gilbert 54 

S. Hedge. 25 

C. Hull ■ 47 

Jno. Burr 35 

H. Rowland 53 

R : Beachamp 41 

Jno. AndraSvs 29 



J. Green sr 57 

Jos. Lockwood 15 

P. Norton 13 

Thos. Bennet 26 

Ja : Beers 12 

Jos: Middlebrook 20 

Thos. Jones 67 

Thos. Wilson n 

Willm. Hill 34 

Mr. Gold 21 

Mr. Ward 24 

B. Turny 30 

Jno. Cable Sr 61 

Mr. Wakeman 50 

Sarah Wilson 130 

Richd. Osburn 31 

Josha. Knowles 28 

Thos. Sherrington 44 

Hump. Hide 05 

Peter Coly 06 

Jno. Hide 07 

Peter Clapham ....;. 62 

Jo. Knowles 66 

Thos. Lyon 33 

Jno. Sturgis 38 

Jno. Cable jr 60 

Samll. Drake 17 

G. Smith 27 

J : Barlow sr 10 

J: Barlow jr 42 

Samll Smith 63 

Rob. Rumsie 40 

R : Ogden 39 

D : Frost 37 



B. Town Votes p. 31. 



No. VI 



The names of those yt. Removed ye building Lots attye Rear of ye Lots, into ye half- 
mile Comon, according to ye order ye last meeting. Jan. 17. 1671/2 

Benjn. Turny 
Mr. Harvy 
Thos. Staples 
Cor: Hull 
Jos. Knowles 
Jno. Hide 
Jno. Barlow sr 
T. Lyon 
El. Smith 
Jno. Knowles 
Ed; Adams 

B. Town Votes p. 44. 



Michael Try 
Ezek. Sandford 
Rog: Knap 
Dan". Silleiman 
Thos. Skidmore 
Jos : Jennings 
Rich; Osborn 
Ja: Beers 
Rich: Lyons 
Jno. Aplegate 
Jno. Cable jr. 



Sergt. Sely 
old Odell 
Sam". Morehouse 
Ens: Turny 
Ste: Hedge 
Hen: Rowland 
Jn". Grummon. 
Robt. Meacar 
Jos; Wakeman 
Jno. Burr 
Jno. Cable sr 



Peter Coly 
Jno . Barlow jr 
--,»Jos Patchin 

Tho: Stiervington 
Hen: Jackson 
Hump: Hide 
Sam". Drake 
N. Perry 
S. Smith 
Jno. Sturgis 
Sarah Wilson 



Feb. 28. 1 67 1, 



No. VII 
List for Compo Dividend. 



Feb. 28. 1671/2 



W. Wheeier 

F. Hall's farm 

Jos. Whelpley , 

Jno. Odell 

Samuel Treadwell . 



Is. Wheeler .. 
Jas. Bennet. . . 
M. Sherwood. 
R. Hubbell... 
H. Jackson. . . 



330 



HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD 



W. Fry 95 

E. Sandford lo 

T. Morehouse 42 

D. Silliman 102 

T. Oliver 61 

Sergt. Sely . . 31 

O. Odell 44 

Sam. Morehouse 85 

T. Turnie 74 

T. Bennet 98 

Jn". Thompson. 23 

Geo. Squire 36 

Jo. Middlebrook 82 

T.Jones 13 

W. Hill 89 

Mr. Gold 34 

Sarah Wilson 57 

Benj. Turney 33 

N. Burr 87 

W. Ward t6 

Dnl. Burr 24 

Mos. Dimon 14 

T.Wilson 26 

H. Sherwood 48 

Mr. Harvey 22 

W. Wilson 77 

Jno. Bulkiey 63 

T. Staples 37 

Ed. Adams 75 

Tno. Grumon 86 

R. Meacre 71 

Jas. Gray 05 

Mr. Jehu Burr 32 

Mr. Jones 81 

John Banks 62 

Jos. Wakeman 46 

T. Skidmore 55 

S. Hedge 29 

Cor. Hull 91 

Jno. Burr 03 

O. Gilbert 09 

Jo. Jennings 96 

Hen. Rowland 80 

Jos Knowles 18 

Jno. Cable Sr 94 

R. Osbora 40 



F. Bradley 45 

T. Sherwood 78 

H. Hide 56 

Jno. Hide 65 

P. Coley 72 

P. Clapham 67 

Jno. Knowles 64 

Jno. Sturges 92 

Jno. Cable Junr 07 

Danll. Lockwood 73 

Ja. Beers 08 

Sam. Smith 04 

Jno. Barlow Snr 51 

Jno. Barlow Jnr 49 

S. Smith 04 

T. Shervington 21 

R. Rumsie 84 

Jno. Tompkins ig 

S. Ward 93 

Josh . Lockwood 69 

Sm". Couch 47 

D. Frost loo 

Jno. Andrews 43 

Jno. Green 53 

R. Beacham 59 

Jno. Wheeler 54 

Hendrick 70 

R. Lyon 39 

Mr. Wakeman 17 

G. Squire Jnr 38 

Parsonage 25 

School 28 

Samuel Drake 79 

D. Finch 01 

Ths. Sherwood 99 

Sam'l. Goodwin 30 

P. Barlow 66 

N.Perry 35 

Mr. Thomas Pell 12 

Jno. Applegate 90 

Jno. Bennet 41' 

T. Lyon 15 

R. Ogden.. 52 

Patchin 76 

Jno. Smith 27 



B. Town Votes p. 47. 



No. VIII 
General Indian Deed 



Know all men by these presents, yt whereas ye town of Fairfield hath formerly bought 
of ye true Indian proprietors all ye lands contained within their township bounds, which 
is seven miles broad upon ye sea coast, & from ye sea at least twelve miles into ye coun- 
try to ye northward of their bounds, bounds on ye East with ye s"? town bounds as ye 
Court hath setlled, on ye west with town bounds of Norwalke, also Compaw-neck from 
ye old road to Norwalke to Sagatuck River on ye west, to ye sea on ye south, for which 
lands ye Indian proprietors have given ye s'* . town severall bills of sale, viz : one bill 
bearing date ye 20!^ March 1656; and bill dated 21^' March i6|-"J ; ye 3'* bill bearing date 
ye 19. Jan'y 1670, by all which bills of sale ye above s''. lands are made over to ye 5"^ 
Towne : yet for ye maintenance of Love & peace between ye s^ town & ye s^ Indians 
yt wee may prevent trouble, yt neither we nor o' heirs nor successours shall make any 
further claims to any lands within ye sd Bounds, but only what is sequestred for us: We 
ye surviveing Indian Inhabitants of Poquonuck, Unceway, Sasqua & Aspetuck doe Cove- 
nant & agree as followeth : Imprimis, we doe owne & acknowledge all these bills of 
sale. Dated as above, s<i to be just & good, & ye lands contained therein to bee truely bought 
be ye Sd. Towne of ye lawful proprietors; & therefore doe for ourselves, our heirs & sue- 



APPENDIX 331 

cessors, confirm all ye s**. lands within ye s,i . bounds, unto ye s<* towne of Fairfield & 
their heirs, successours, assignes {& whatsoever of Aspatuck lands is within ye s<i boun- 
daryes was sold in ye s'* Bills of sale), both meadowes, uplands, Creekes, Coves, harbours, 
Rivers, ponds, with all ye privileges & appurtenances thereunto, belonging or in any 
wayes appertaining : also whereas there is some of ye Poquanocke Lands yt falls within 
ye s^ Fairfield's bounds as above s<J : now know ye, yt wee ye s'^ Indians, &; for a valuable 
consideration to us already paid, doe alienate, assign & set over from us & from our 
heires for-ever all o"' Interest, right & propriety in ye s** lands & in every part and parcel 
thereof, with all ye privileges & appurtenances thereunto belonging to ye s'' Towne, 
their heires, successours & assigns for-ever to enjoy & posesse it as their owne free lands, 
without any let or molestation from us, our heirs & successours: We also affirm yt wee 
have full knowledge how ye bounds between sd Fairfield & Stratford runs, as by a Com- 
mittee of ye sd towne, they have fully showed us, & wee have marked it jointly with them, 
as also ye northwest Bounds : Only it is to bee noted yt ye lands yt are provided for 
Sasquau Indians, & ye lands at ye Wolfepit-plaine, yt ye Courte Granted us, & at ye old 
field provided for us, Poquanock, Vunkewa & Aspetuck Indians, for our own use to plant 
on, shall remain for-ever for ye s<^ Respective Indians to plant on both for themselves, 
their heires & successours for-ever: It is also to be noted yt ye old Indian feild partaining 
to ye Indians, as above sd, included noe Medow nor English allotments, but only ye 
planting land that they have long possessed, & by a Committee of us, ye Indians & ye sd 
English, is now run setled & staked downe: also wee, ye subscribers hereunto, doe owne 
& acknowledge yt ye sd. Towne of Fairfield, hath already paid to us & to ye Indians they 
formerly bought land off, as above sd, what they were engaged to pay, & therefore doe 
for o' selves our heirs & successors for-ever, acquitt exonerate & discharge ye s'* Towne 
of Fairfield & their successours from any further demands to anything due, upon con- 
sideration of ye sales above sd. Due payment haveing beene already made by ye sd. Towne 
of Fairfield : Also whereas there is land at ye Wolfepit plaine, & at Sasqua, & ye above 
s^ Land at ye old feild, sequestered for ye use of us, our heirs &. successours only to plant 
on, wee doe by these presents for ourselves, our heirs, & successors, acquitt, exhonorate 
& Discharge ye sd Towne of Fairfield, their heirs, & successours from any further demands 
to any lands within their above s'* bounds, but ye use of yt w'^*' as above, is sequestered 
for us : Also wee acknowledge yt wee are to allow a sufficient highway for carting out of ye 
above sd lands of ye old field, for free egresse & regresse for ye Inhabitants of Fairfield, to 
make u'^e of to come at their medows, as by a Committee appointed by ye English is 
already staked & bounded out, & wee doe hereby bind ourselves our heirs & successors 
to free (S: Exhonorate ye s'' parcell of Lands, Comprehended wathin ye bounds above 
Expressed, bought by ye sd Towne of Fairfield of us, ye afore sd Indians, from all former 
Sales, bargains, Claimes Mortgages or Incumbrances whatsoever yt have been since ye 
beginning of ye world till this Day: reserving to ourselves Liberty of hunting & getting 
firewood in any part of ye sd Towne bounds being unfenced : & ye liberty of fishing & 
fowling in any Rivers or Streames within ye sd Towne bounds : And wee also grant ye 
s"* Inhabitants of Fairfield liberty to pasture upon our Lands, sequestered as above sd. for 
our use, soe soone as our crop is off, &; this to continue for-ever : As witnesse our hand 
this 6"" Day of October 1680 : 

Old Anthoney his X his mk Yeernsqua X her mark 

Nimrod X his mk Washagunassuk X his mk. 

WagregTinnasque X her mk Keewop X his mk 



332 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD 

Crocreco X his mk Nausouate X his mk 

Wesquambe X his mk Sasqua James X his mk 

Poneni X his mk Neesenpaus X his mk 

Youyoewhy X his mk Crecono X his mk 

Patckcock X his mk Norwake James X his mk 

Sasapequna X his mk Capt. Wittere X his mk 

Aquonke X his mk Hetorow X his mk 

Panumscutt X his mk Nascroe X his mk 

Pupurah X his mk Quatiant X his mk 

Mamarushocke X his mk Saicus X his mk 

Signed & Delivered in presence of us Witnesses & Interpreters, John Minor. John Sherwood. 
Acknowledged at ye same time of ye sd subscription & delivered before John Minor= Comissr. 
Wee Hassahan, Mittacke, Wattonowcanks, Indians, haveing full information of ye contents of ye with in 
Instrument doe fully subscribe, in witness or full consent thereto, both for orselves,heires &successours, as wit- 
nesse or hands ye date above said. 

Witnesses Kassham X mark. 

Nathaniel Bur. Wattonowcanks X mark 

John Mansfield. Mittacke X mark 

Womsoncous X mark 
Chickine X mark 
Wampam X mark. 
Warenot X mark. 
Choromoke X mark. 
Ye deed is a true copy according to ye originall, compared & recorded this 25, Janary 1685 by mee 

Nathan Gold, Recorder.* 

B. Town Votes— P. 668-670. 
No. IX 
Deed of the Old Indian Field 

To all people to whom these presents shall come greeting : Whereas there have been 
severall bills of sale by ye Indian proprietors unto ye town of Fairfield, of all ye lands they 
possesse within their township bounds, except those particular lands hereafter mentioned 
sequestered for o'' use, & by Gen'" bill of sale, bearing date ye 6"^ day ot October last 
past may more fully appeare : And whereas there is in ye s<^- gen^ bill of sale an acknowledge- 
ment of ye old Indian field, in ye east side of Unceway River is under sequestration or kept 
for us to plant, which accordingly they hitherto have done, wee, ye proprietors of ye 
sd old field, upon good reasons, best known to o'selves, are resolved to sell ye sd field, & 
therefore wee made proffer of ye sale thereof to ye towne of Fairfield. Whereupon ye s'^- 
town appointing a committee to treate with us, manifested their desire yt wee ye Indians 
should keep it for o'' use to plant on according as was formerly concluded, but nothstanding 
wee inportuned their bying of it from such reasons as are with us : And after severall 
treatyes with ye sd. Fairfield Committee endeavoring to accomplish a sale thereof, at length 
we came to an agreement about it, & have sold. 

Now know yt wee ye true proprietors of ye sd Indian old field, above mentioned, 
lying within ye common line of their gen""" field fence in ye east side of Unceway river, 
which is surrounded on all sides with ye proprieties of severall of ye s^- towns inhabitants, 
& ye propriety of ye town their lands next ajoining thereto : wee say we have sold, 
alienated, assigned & set over & do by these presents sell, alienate and set over from us 
our heirs, successours &: assigns all ye s^- tract or neck of land, called our old field 
afore mentioned, & every part and parcell thereof yt doth lye to us in ye neck, with 

* Also Probate Records, Vol. 1689-1701, pp. 6-13. 



APPENDIX 333 

all ye privileges & appurtenances thereto belonging, or in anyways appertaining unto 
ye sd towne of Fairfield, their heirs, successours & assigns, to enjoy & possess it as their 
own free lands, from ye day of ye date hereof forever. This sale we have made of ye 
premises for a valuable consideration yt ye s'^- towne hath secured to us, & wee doe 
affirm yt we ye subscribers hereto are ye true proprietors, & have lawful right to sell ye 
premises : & wee doe free & exhonorate ye sd parcell of land, & every part & parcell 
thereof from all former sales, bargains & encumbrances whatever, & now they may record 
it to their use & propriety. 

In witness whereof we, ye sd Indian Proprietors, have hereunto set to our hands this 
l8. May 1681. Also ye sd Indian proprietors hereto subscribing, doe reserve liberty of a 
convenient footpath yt ye English shall settle, for free egress and regress to come at 
their fishing in any of ye creeks, both for themselves and successors. 

Mamerushee mk Umperenosset's son 

Ponees X marke 

Old Anthoye's X marke 

Washaganesser X marke 

Wissawahem X squa her mk. 

Robins X marke 

Aquanck X marke 

Cope X his marke 

Sowwahose X squa mk 

Nanshucas X squa mk 

Nassons X young Anthony's son 

Chororomokes X his mark 

Signed & delivered in presence witnesses of us, 

John Mansfield 

Thomas T W William's mk. 
Indian witnesses 

Sasqua James X his mark. 

Crocrecoe X his mark. 

Roroeway X his mark. 

Runshsqua X mark. 

Pascoe X mark. 

These Indians witnesses hath signed as witnesses, & consent to ye sale of ye 
premises. 

Trustee, an Indian which speaks very good English, was improved an interpreter 
between ye above said towne & ye Indians by both partyes consent, in ye presence of 
these English witnesses, ye Indians sigingof ye above instrument in his presence, as their 
act, as witness his hand 

Trustee's X marke. 

This deed, is a true copy of ye originall compared & recorded, This 25 January 
1685 by me, 

Nathan Gold 

Recorder. 
A. Town Deeds, pp. 660, 667. 



334 



HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD 
No. X 



A List of y« Inhabitants proportions of Lands in y« Comons granted to y^ Inhabitants 
in y« year 1670/71 & is now Recorded December 1681.* 



Acres 

Samll Ward 452 

Richd. Ogden 745 

Thos Jones 286 

Willm Hill 694 

Major Nathan Gold 1500 

Sarah Wilson 506 

Benjan Turny 260 

Nathll Burr 626 

Willm Ward 644 

Danll Burr 321 

Moses Dimon 292 

Thos Wilson 375 

Stephen Sherwood 445 

Mr. Harvey 466 

Widow Bulkley 477 

Tno Bulkly 249 

Thos. Staples 1128 

Edward Adams 715 

Jno Gruinon 620 

Robt Mecar 387 

Mrs. Jones 184 

Jacob Gray 370 

Mr. Jehu Burr 812 

Jno. Banks 795 

Ezburn Wakeman , 287 

Thorns. Skidmore 433 

Stephen Hedge 305 

Jos. Lockwood 681 

Danll Frost 779 

Jno Green 675 

Robert Beachem 584 

Jno Wheeler 1004 

Henrick 203 

Richd I yonx" 800 

Mr. Wakeman 641 

George Squire 132 

Parsonage 650 

School 325 

Nathll Finch 237 

Isaac Sherwood 097 

Phebe & Deborah Barlow 434 

Nathll Perry igi 

Mr. Pell 292 

Jno Bennet 254 , 

Thos Lyoru' 254 

Jno Smith 25 f 

Thos Shervington 305 

Simon Couch 578 

Jno. Andrews :>g6 

Patchin 195 

Samll Goodwin 121 

B. Fairfield Town Votes, p. 66. 

* The order of names in this list is, perhaps, more correct than in any other of the lists of dividend holders 
i:i the various divisions of lands. From the Widow Wheeler's long lot at Pequonnock to Joseph Middlebrook's, & 
in fact, the names of most of the owners of the long lots of the East farmers as far west as the Mile of Common, 
appear to be perfectly correct in their order of ownership. The addition of new dividend holders, & of the 
names of persons who lived on the opposite sides of the main streets of the town, appear to have created no little 
confusion, in giving the exact order of the names of the dividend holders west of the Mile of Common, as far 
more received dividends In the two & a half miles on the west side, than those who shared the dividends of the 
one and a half mile on the east side. The frequent exchange & sale of some of these lots, no doubt, was the 
cause of the irregularity in the order cf names of the holders of the lots west of the Mile of Common. It must 
always be remembered that Simon Couch owned the last long lots ne.xt to the Norwalk boundary line. Joseph 
Patchin did not remain long at Green's Farms, & both his long lot & that of Samuel Goodwin's lay among those 
east of Couch's & Andrews'. But the order of ownership in this list is very nearly correct. The highways were 
laid out, & afterwards renewed at a much later date, which will be shown hereafter. It will be well to remember 
also, that the building-lots had nothing whatever to do with the old home-lots of the first settlers. — Author. 



Estates 


234: 


10 


217 ■ 


14 


81 




14? 


16 


106 : 


2 


195: 


6 


14.3: 


— 


IS?: 


14 


298: 


16 


291 : 


4 


198 


18 


131 • 


12 


180: 


— 


116: 


16 


103: 


— 


Q3" 


4 


262 : 




III : 


8 


2si: 


4 


187: 


4 


141 


4 


62: 


12 


263 : 


— 


233 


— 


243 


4 


26,: 


14 


285: 


12 


254: 


— 


290 ■ 


— 


I7P 


— 


13a 


— 


254 


— 


196 


18 


210 


— 


173 


4 


I2p • 


4 


188 


18 


18.^ 





170 


4 


238 


— 


I. '54 


— 


147 


10 


'P4 


10 


80 


— 


40 


— 


138 


. 12 


120 


10 


122 


12 


91 


10 


141 





171 


16 



Acres 

Widow Wheeler 706 

Goodman Hall's farm 707 

Jos : Whelpley 263 

Jno. Odell 467 

Samll Tread well 245 

Isaac Wheeler 635 

James Bennet 46s 

Math : Sherwood 412 

Rich. Hubell 97' 

H;nry Jackson 946 

Michael Fry 647 

Ezek : Sanford 428 

Roger Knap 486 

Thos. Morehouse 412 

Danll Silleman 270 

Thos. Oliver 303 

Nathll Sely Senr 852 

Willm Odell Senr 362 

Samll. Morehouse 816 

Ensigne Robt. Turny 608 

Thos. Bennet 459 

J no Tomson 20 3 

Sergt George Squire 855 

Jos : Middlebrook Senr 757 

Cor. Hull 792 

Mr. Jno Burr 863 

Obedh Gilbert 603 

Joshua Jennings 825 

Henry Rowland 943 

Jas Knowles 582 

Jno Cable Senr 449 

R ich. Osburn 825 

Frances Bradley 639 

Thos Sherwood 682 

Hum ; Hide 569 

Jno Hide 398 

Peter Colee 387 

Peter Clapham 604 

Jos. Knowles 553 

Jno Sturgis 774 

Jno Cable Junr 501 

Danll Lockwood 479 

James Beers 645 

Samll Drake 260 

Jno. Applegate 132 

Samll Smith 450 

John Barlow Senr 391 

John Barlow Junr 398 

Eleazer Smith 298 

Robt. Rumsie 458 

Jno Tomkins 233 



Estates 


139 


10 


229 


8 


87 


17 


213 


— 


460 


4 


172 


— 


80 


4 


1Q2 


16 


iq8: 


2 


98 


12 


gc 


— 


15 


10 


137 


— 


143 


6 


147: 


7 


77: 


6 


347: 


— 


220 


4 


I go 


16 


IIQ 





56 


14 


"3 


14 


250 


— ■ 


244 


12 


88 


4 


133 


8 


93: 


16 


181 ; 


4 


2,39 


10 


207 


8 


179 


10 


308 


18 


o6o 


— • 


247 


— 


20S 


S 


40 


10 


200 


— 


100 


— 


79 


— 


30 


— 


134 


— 


58 


— 


go 


— 


7-i 


— 


78 


— 


78 


— 


93 


— 


178 


— 


91 


^ 


\X(io 


. — 


37 


: — 



APPENDIX 

No. xr 



335 



Here followeth a list of ye building lots pasture lots, & long-lots granted to ye inhab- 
itants of ye town Jan. 1670-71 & recored Dec. 30. 1681. 



Widow Wheeler 

Goodman Hall's farm 

Joseph Whelpley . 

John Odell [. 

Sam'll Treadwell 

Isaac Wheeler 

—James Bennet 

Mathevv Sherwood 

Richard Hubbell ;.'.' 

Henry Jackson 

Michael Fry 

Ezekiel Sandford ....... 

Roger Knap ...'. 

Thomas Morehouse ..... 

Daniel Siliiman , ..'. 

Thomas Oliver 

Nathaniel Seely Sen 

William Orell Sen .' 

Samuel Morehouse 

Ensitrn Robt. Turney!!.! 
^Tho. Bennet 

John Thompson 

Serj. George Squire 

Joseph Middlebrook, Sen 
Thomas Jones . . 
William Hii:... 

Mr. Nathan Gold ..'.. 

Sarah Wilson 

Benjamin Turney 

Nathaniel Burr 

William Ward ' . ' 

Moses Dimon 

Thomas Wilson 

Stephen Sherwood 

Mr. Josiah Harvey ...'. 

Widow Sarah Wilson 

John Bulkley 

Thomas Staples '. 

Edward Adams 

John Grummon 

Robert Meacar 

Rev fir: Jones [ 

Jacob Gray 

Mr. Jehu Burr 

John Banks 

Esburn Wakeman 

Thomas Skidraore 

Stephen Hedge 

Cornelius Hull. . . 

Mr. John Burr ........ 

Obediah Gilbert 

Joshua Jennings 

Henry Rowland 

Joshua Knowles 

John Cable snr 

Richard Orsborn 

Francis Bradley ' . 

Thomas Sherwood 

Humphrey Hide 

John Hide 

Peter Coly 

Peter Clapham 

John Sturgis 

John Cable Jr 

Daniel Lockwood 

James Beers , , .'. 

Samuel Smith ........ 



Building Lots. 



Acres. Q. Rods. 



19 


3 


03 


'3 


3 


°3 


19 





03 


21 


3 


00 


'3 


01 


28 


10 


01 


16 


'9 


00 


08 


M 


03 


OT 


'5 


03 


00 


13 


00 


24 


og 


02 


30 




03 


27 


'3 


03 


26 


17 


oi 


16 


II 


02 


08 


II 


00 


10 


14 


02 


14 


10 


Ol 


23 



Pastures. 



Acres. Q. Rods. 



6 
06 

17 
20 

17 

36 

13 
34 
34 
34 

30 



24 
15 
34 
15 
38 
18 
27 
09 



Long Lots ve Breadth 



Rods. Q. Feet. 



34 


00 


00 


33 


00 


07 


23 


00 


00 


15 


00 


03 


20 


03 


°3 


J 3 


02 


00 


II 


03 


01 


10 


02 


02 


30 


01 


01 


12 


00 


17 


29 


00 


07 


21 


00 


07 



'S 


02 


02 


°7 
30 
27 


00 
0: 
00 


02 
01 
00 


70 


00 


00 


2.S 


00 


00 


53 
19 


01 
02 


00 
03 


09 

22 


00 
01 


04 
01 


23 
10 


00 
01 


00 
03 


13 


02 


00 


14 
.6 


03 

02 


02 
02 


17 


00 


10 


09 


00 


02 


40 


00 


00 


25 


CO 


00 


21 
13 
06 
13 


03 

°3 
00 
00 


03 
00 
°S 
00 


29 
28 


00 
01 


00 
00 


II 
1.5 


00 
02 


°3 

CO 


10 


00 


00 


28 


00 


00 


30 
21 

29 
33 


03 
02 
06 
00 


00 
00 
04 
00 


20 


3 


00 


IS 


2 


00 


29 
22 


I 



00 

06 


24 

20 


I 
I 


00 
00 


'3 
22 


3 

2 


00 
02 


19 

27 


2 
2 


03 
02 


18 





00 


17 


2 


°3 



336 



HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD 



John Barlow Sr 

John Barlow Jnr 

Eliezear Smith 

Robt. Rumsie 

John Tomkins 

Samuel Ward 

Joseph Lockwood 

Simon Couch 

John Andrews 

Daniel Frost 

John Green 

Robl. Beacham 

John Wheeler 

Henrick Henricks 

Richard Lyon ....... 

Rev. Mr. Wakeman . 

George Squire Jnr . . . 

Parsonage 

School 

Samuel Drake 

Daniel Finch 

Isaac Sherwood 

Samuel Goodwin 

Phebe Barlow 

Nathaniel Perry 

Thomas Pell 

-John Bennet 

Thomas Lyon ^ 

Richard Ogden 

-ijoseph Pafchin Sen.. 

John Smith 

Thomas Shirvington 

John Applegate 



Building Lots. 



Acres. Q. Rods. 



op 


00 


06 


08 


°3 


24 


Ob 


03 


18 


10 


02 


18 


05 


01 


21 


10 


01 


^2 


14 


CO 


06 


n 


00 


00 


08 


00 


24 


17 


03 


3+ 


15 


02 


04 


13 


01 


34 


23 


00 


27 


04 


02 


24 


18 


02 


04 


15 


01 


25 



Pastures. 



Acres. Q. Rods. 



05 
08 


I 
I 


38 

34 


04 
08 


I 
I 


32 
22 


II 





37 


10 


2 

2 


29 
08 


14 


I 


29 


12 


I 


31 


10 


3 


03 


18 
13 


2 
2 


05 

38 


14 


2 


IS 


12 


I 


17 


02 


I 


29 


12 





00 


06 





00 


04 


3 


08 


14 

02 


3 

3 


00 

08 


12 
08 







35 
06 


°3 


2 


05 


04 


I 


24 


04 


2 


29 


04 


2 


29 


13 


3 


02 


03 


2 


16 


04 


2 


29 


05 


2 


22 



Long Lots ve Breadth 



Rods. Q. Feet. 



II 


3 


27 


3 


24 





20 


3 


35 





07 





28 


2 


23 


3 


05 





23 





II 


2 


09 





09 





°3 


3 


04 





00 


OS 


06 


13 


10 


01 


09 


00 


29 


00 


26 


02 


06 


00 



B. Fairfield Town Votes, pp. 67, 68. 



No. XII 



March y^ 10* 1681/2 The Town by vote declare y' y« old Indian-field shall be forth- 
with divided to y^ Inhabitants y' have right to divide according to y^ Lists of Estates, 
y« Greatest part of y« Comons having been divided. 

A List of y* Lots for ye old Indian field drawn this 22'^ March 1681/2. 



88 Widow Wheeler 
80 Goodman Halls' farm 
68 Jos. Whelplie 
73 Jno. Odell 

52 Samll Treadwell 
59 Isaac Wheeler 

- 33 James Bennet 
21 Math. Sherwood 
94 Michl Try 
26 Eze. Sanford 
67 R. Knap 
64 Tho. Morehouse 

53 D. Selleman 
93 T. Oliver 

78 N. Sely 

47 Willm Odell 

34 Samll Morehouse 

48 Ensigne Turny 
40 Thomas Bennet 
63 J. Tomson 

77 Sergt Squire 

87 Jos. Middlebrook 

90 S Jones 

44 Willm Hill 

87 Majr Gold 



13 Jas. Rowland 
89 Benjn. Turny 
12 N. Burr 
20 W. Hawley 
27 D. Burr 
15 Moses Dimon 
36 T. Wilson 
23 Mr. Harvy 
56 Widw Bulkley 
39 Jno Bulkley 

9 T. Staples 
74 Ed. Adams 
69 Jno. Grumon 
92 Robt. Meaar 

4 Mrs. Jones 
19 Jab Gray 
42 Mr. John Burr 
32 Jno. Banks 
76 Ez. Wakeman 
30 T. Skidmore 
58 Steph. Hedges 
55 Cor. Hull 
22 Mr. Jno. Burr 
71 O. Gilbert 
35 Jos. Jennings 



79 H. Rowland 

84 Jos. Knowles 
75 Jno. Cable Senr 
57 R. Osburn 

45 Francis Bradley 

37 T. Sherwood 
86 Hum. Hide 
31 Jno. Hide 

60 P. Colee 

82 P. Clapham 
18 Jno. Knowles 

61 Jno. Stargis 

54 Jno. Cable Junr 

65 Dan'l Lockwood 
43 James Beers 

91 Sam'l Drake 

38 Jno. Applegate 
14 Samll Smith 

5 Jno. Barlow Senr 
49 Eleza Smith 

85 Rob. Rumsie 
72 Sam" Ward 

66 R. Ogden 

II Jos. Lockwood 
I Danll Frost 



APPENDIX 



3 Jno. Green 
lo R Beachem 
62 Jno. Wheeler 
28 Henrich Henrichson 
51 R. Lyon 
41 Mr. Wakeman 



83 George Squire Junr 
29 Parsonage 
17 School 
50 Mr. Finch 
70 P. Barlow 
6 N. Perry 



-16 Jno. Bennet 
25 Jno. Smith 
2 T. Shervington 

7 S. Couch 

46 Jno. Andrews 

8 Jos. Patchin __-- • 



No. XIII 

Dividend of Old Indian Field 
10. Feb. 1682 3 



337 



B. Town Votes, p. 70. 



1 Danll. Frost 

2 The. Shervington. 

4 Mrs. Jones 

5 Jno. Barlow, Senr. 

6 Nathll. Perry 

7 Simon Couch 

8 Patching 

p Tho. Staples 

R. Beachem 

1 Jas. Lockwood . . . . 

2 Nathll Burr 

3 Jas. Rowland 

4 Samll. Smith 

5 Moses Dimon 

6 Jno. Bennet 

7 School 

8 Jno. Knowles 

y Jacob Gray 

20 Hawly 

21 Nath Sherwood . . . 

22 Jno. Burr 

23 Mr. Hai^y 

24 Jno. Barlow, Junr. 

25 Jno. Smith 

26 Eze. Sanford 

27 D. Burr 

28 Hendrick 

29 Parsonage 

30 Thomas Skidmore 

31 Jno. Hide 

32 Jno. Banks 

33 James Bennet 

34 Samll. Morehouse 

35 Jas. Jennings. . . . 

36 Tho. Wilson 

37 Tho. Sherwood . . . 

38 Jno. Applegate . . . 

39 Jno. Bulkley 

40 Tho. Bennet 

41 Mr. Wakeman.... 

42 Mr. Jehu Burr 

43 James Beers 

44 "Willm. Hill 

45 Francis Bradley.. 

46 Jno. Andrews .... 

47 Willm. Oiell 

48 Ensign Turny 

49 Eleaz. Smith 

50 Nath. Finch 

51 R. Lyon 

52 Samll. Treadwell . 

53 D. Silliman 

54 Jno. Cable 

56 Wid. Eulkley 

57 R. Osburn 

58 Ste. Hedge 

59 Isaac Wheeler 

60 Peter Colee 

61 Jno. Sturgis 

62 Jno. Wheeler 

22 



Acres. 



Q- 



Rods. 



Feet. 



Inch. 



338 



HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD 



85 



Jos. Whelplie 

Tho. Morehouse. . . . 
Danll. Lock wood . . . 

Rich Ogden 

Roger Knap 

Jno. Thompson 

Jno. Grummon 

Phebee Barlow . 

Wid. Gilbert 

Samll. Ward 

Jno. OJell 

Ed. Adams 

Jno. Cable Senr 

Ez. Wakeman 

Serg't Squire 

Nath: Sely 

Henry Rowland .... 

Halls' Farm 

Peter Clapham 

George Squire Junr 

Jos. Knovvles 

R. Rumsie 

Hum. Hide 

Jos. Middlebrook. . . 

Major Gold 

Wid. Wheeler 

Benjn. Turny 

Tho. Jones 

Samll. Drake 

R. Meacar 

Tho. Oliver 

Mr. Try 



Acres. 



Q. 



Rods. 



Feet. 



Inch. 



No. XIV 



B. Town Votes, p. 73. 



A list of y« Lots at Compo neck, both y« Divisions, y« first division is 3 Rods per pound 
y= Second division is 5 Rods pr pound, and is as followetli 1682. 



Lots. 



83 
2 

58 
60 
6 
68 
101 
97 
50 



61 
31 
44 
85 
74 
.98 
23 
36 
82 
13 
89 
34 
57 



Estates. 



234 


10 


217 

081 


14 

00 


143 
106 


10 
2 


IQ5 


6 


143 





157 

298 


14 
16 


291 
ig8 


4 
18 


131 


12 


180 





116 


i6 


103 


00 


93 
262 


4 

4 


m 


8 


251 
187 


4 
4 


144 
62 


4 
12 


263 


00 


m 


00 
17 


213 





460 


4 


172 


00 



. Widow Wheeler 

.Halls Farm 

.Joseph Whelpley 

.Jno Odell 

.Samll. Treadwell 

. Isaac Wheeler 

. James Bennet 

. Math w Sherwood 

.Rich. Hubll 

. Henry Jackson 

.Michael Fry 

. Ez. Sandford 

. Roger Knap 

. Tho . Morehouse 

.Dan. Silliman 

.Tho. Oliver 

.Nathll. Sely. Senr 

.Willm. Odell, Senr 

.Samll. Morehouse 

.Ensign Robt. Turny. . . 

.Tho. Bennet 

. Jno. T omson 

.Sergt. Squire 

.Jos'Middlebrook, Sr 

.Tho. Jones , 

.Willm. Hill 

.Nathn. Gold 

.Sarah Wilson, now Roland 



First Division. 



Acres. 



Quarters. 



Rds. 



Second Division. 



Acres. 



Quarters. 



Rds. 



APPENDIX 



339 



Estates. 



80 


00 


4 


IQ2 


16 





198 


2 





93 


(2 





90 








175 








n? 








143 


6 





147 


7 





177 


6 





347 








220 


4 





190 


6 





iiq 








56 


14 





113 


H 





250 








244 


12 





88 


4 





133 


8 





93 







243 


H 





2t)S 


14 





I8s 


12 





254 








290 








179 








133 








^H 








196 


18 





210 








175 


4 





129 


4 





188 


18 





185 








170 


4 





238 








154 








H7 


10 





IQ4 


10 





080 








040 








138 


12 





120 


10 





122 


12 





oqi 


10 





141 








071 


16 





i3q 


13 





229 


8 





181 


4 





239 


10 





207 


8 





179 


10 





S08 


18 





162 








247 








206 


5 





040 


10 





200 


00 





100 


00 





079 








030 








037 








IS4 








058 








090 








078 








078 








078 








093 








178 








091 








060 









.Ben. Turny 

. .Nathll. Burr 

. .Eben. Hawley 

. .Danll. Burr 

. . Moses Dimon 

. .Tho. Wilson 

. . Stephen Sherwood . . . 

. . Josiah Harvy 

..Widow Wilson 

. .Jno. Bulkley 

. . Tho. Staples 

. .Ed. Adams 

..Jno. Grufnon, Senr. .. 

..Rob. Meacar 

. .Mrs. Jones 

. .Jacob Gray 

..Mr. Jehu Burr 

..Lieut. Jno. Banks 

. .Ez. Wakeman 

. .Tho. Skidmore 

. .Ste. Hedge 

. .Lieut: Cor: Hull 

. .Jno. Burr 

..Obed. Gilbert 

..Joshua Jennings 

..Henry Rowland 

. . Joshua Knowles 

..Jno. Cable, Senr 

..Rich. Osbum 

..Frances Bradley 

. .Tho. Sherwood 

. .Hum. Hide 

. .Jno. Hide 

. .Peter Coly 

. . Peter Clapham 

. . Jno. Knowles 

. .Jno. Sturgis 

. . Jno. Cable, Junr 

, . Danll. Lockwood . . . . 

. .James Beers 

, .Samll. Drake 

, .Jno. Applegate 

, .Samll. Smith 

. Jno. Barlow, Senr. . . . 
.Jno. Barlow. Junr. .. . 

.Eleaz. Smith 

.Robt. Rumsic 

. Fno. Tompkins 

.Samll. Ward 

.Rich. Ogden 

. Jos. Lock^v'bod 

.Danll. Frost 

.Jno. Green 

. Robt. Beachcm 

. Jno. Wheeler 

.Hendrick Henderson. 

.Rich. Lyons, 

.Mr. Wakeman 

.George Squire, Junr. 

. Parsonage 

. School 

.Nathll. Finch 

. Isaac Sherwood 

.Samll. Goden 

.Phe: & Deb Barlow.. 

.Nathll. Perry 

.Mr. Pell 

.Jno. Bennet 

.Tho. Lyon 

.Jno. Smith 

.Tho. Shervington 

.Simon Couch 

ino. Andrews 
os: Patchin . 



First Division. 



Acres. Quarters. Rods 



Second Division. 



Acres. Quarters. Rods. 



B. Town Votes, p. 76, 77. 



340 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD 

XV 

Know all men by these presents that wee whose names are hereunto written, being 
true proprietors of a neck of land, commonly called wolfs pit neck within ye bounds of 
Fayfield towne, & being resolved to make sale of ye same, wee therfore ye subscribers 
hereunto have sold, & doe by these presents sell, alienate & set over from us, & from 
our heirs, executors & administrators forever to Major Nathan Gold, Mr. Jehue Bur, & Mr, 
John Wheeler, in ye behalf of ye rest of ye allowed inhabitant of ye town of Fairfield, 
such as were allowed deuiders of lands & to their heirs forever, for a vauabell considera- 
tion to us secured to be payd, a parcell of land, being a neck of land within ye township of 
Fairfield as above mentioned called wolf's (wolve's) Pit neck, bounded on Stratford dividing- 
line on ye north-east, on ye other side with ye land of ye inhabitants of ye aforesaid Fair- 
field ; wee ye sd. subscribers have sold to ye said Major-Nathan Gold, Mr. Jehue Bur, & Mr. 
John Wheeler for ye ves of ye town aforesaid, the aforesaid mentioned neck of land, all 
our interest & propriety of land thar forever, to enioy as thar owne proper land, without 
let or molistation from us or from ours, & do affirm ourselves, to have good right to 
sell the same, it being a parcell of land sequestered by Court for our ves & improve- 
ment, & doe fully acquit ye town of Fayrfield forever not to challang or lay claim to ye 
aforesaid, as witness our hands February the eleventh 1685 ; wee ye above sayd sub- 
scribers doe by these presents fully acquit & discharge ye afoarsayd town of Fayrfield 
from all manner of claims, demands & rights of land within ye town of Fayrfield, or ves 
of any land of them to plant or any other ves, either from us or from our heirs forever, 
witness our hands ye day above, 



The mark of 


X 


Penomscot. 


The mark of 


X 


Pasoroimpom 


The mark of 


X 


Machoka 


Atunk's daughter. 






The mark of 


X 


Pony 


The mark of 


X 


Matamke 


Signed in presence of 







The mark of 


X 


Kahaco 


The mark of 


X 


Shaganoset 


The mark of 


X 


Old Anthony 


The mark of 


X 


Pascoy 


The mark of 


X 


Juterpretar 


Nathan ial Paine 


Thomas T. 


W. Williams. 




his mark 



The above deed of sale was owned by ye several Indians whose names are subscribed 
thereto, to be thar free act the 11. Feb. 1685 before Jehu Bur 

Commissioner 
The above is a true copy of the originall recorded this 31. May 1686 by me 

Nathan Gold Recorder 
It is to be noted ye deed of which this is a copy, is on file with ye county clerk.* 

No. XVI 
Indian Deed of Highway Across Golden Hill. 

Whereas it is complained yt there is no allowed highway for passing & repassing of 
Inglish not endians, from ye highway between Fayrfield & Stratford into ye endian field 
called Golden Hill, it being as is informed partaining to both John Beardsley, ytt land 
whear it is thought meet & convenient sd highway shall be, ye endians of Golden Hill 
earnestly desiring a highway be layd out there or near there, whear ye path lyeth from 
Samuel Gregorie's across ye Indian Field yt goeth towards Stratford, & being very con- 

* a. Fairfield Town Deeds p. 661. 



APPENDIX 



341 



venient also for ye Inglish for egress & regress thare, as occasion may bee, upon which 
consederation it is agreed firmly by these presents, by & between both John Beardsley of 
Stratford & ye Indians belonging or partaining to Golden Hill aforesayd, in bounds of 
Stratford : 

Tliat a highway shall be staked out two rods broad at ye fence, whare the path goeth 
into sd Beardlie's ground, leading to ye Indian Field or land tharr, & to hold ye same 
bredth till it come to ye endian land, & this being so laid out thare as ye path now goeth 
so to remain highway forever, for free passage for Inglish & Endians, for whose carts & 
foot as occasion may be, ye highway hath its entrance into ye sd Beardsly's land, leading 
to sd. Endian-field a little east of Samuel Gregrorie's hous, whear he now luie-th whear 
ye path abouesaid is, & sd highw^ay is bounded south-east with ye land of Leeft. John 
Beardslie's aforesaid, on the north-west with ye land of Henry Summars, which highway 
is to remain for yt ves, as aboue for-euver, without any let or claim or molestation from ye 
sd John or any by or vndar him ; & in consideration of ye aboue grant of sd. highway by 
said John, his heirs executors & administrators & assigns, we ye Endians foresaid par- 
taining to said Golden Hill do give and grant alienate, asigne, & set ouer from us, our 
heirs executors & administrators & assigns, onto ye aboue said John Beardsley & his heirs 
forever, peacably to have & hold without any let, claim, or molestation from us, our heirs 
or any of us, or any by, from, or vunder us, at any time hear after, but quietly to possess 
& enjoy ye same &; every part of ye vunder written land, being a parsell or bouge of low- 
land or rockey medow, with sum parts of hard-land, to ye quantity of about two acres more 
or less ; sd. land is bounded on ye South with ye fence parting ye Inglish & ye Endian 
land theare, & northarly, bounded on ye path going throw ye field, on all other sides 
with ye Endian land ; & for confirmation of this as thare unto, all agreement ye parties, 
aboue mentioned, haue set to thar hands, with promises yt sd. John be not so molested as 
to haue ye land taken away from him or his, if so it be, then this to be void & of none 
effect, witness our hands this 8. of June I686. signed and delieured in presence of vs wit- 
nesses, 

Nathan Gold, Sr. Saacus 

Samuel Morehouse. Pascot 

John Beardsley Pony 

Wowompom X his mark. Roben 

Panomscot X his mark. 
It is to be noted yt. ye. sd. two acres of land mentioned, lyeth in ye Endian land in 
Golden Hill. 

The Endians signing, & John Beardsley's hand acknowledged ye aboue agreement to 
bee thar act, & deed in Fairfield, this 8. of June 1686 before me, 

Nathan Gold Assistant. 
This is aboue copye of ye original, compared & recorded this 8. June 1686 by me, 

Nathan Gold, Recorder. 
A. Town Deeds p. 519. 
No. XVII 

Bankside Lands 

Whereas y* town of Fayrfeild ded grant formarly to y* west farmars belonging to 
Fayrfeild a deuesion of a parsell of land, Commonly called a hors pastuer, & y' in cas y« 
s<^ farmars could not agree to deuide y« s'' pastuer amongst them Selues y' then mai'. 



X 


his mark. 


X 


his mark. 


X 


his mark. 


X 


his mark. 



342 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD 

Gold M'., John Bur & Sargant John Wheeler ware apointed to detirmine y^ way of 
deuision of S<* land, but y^ S<^ farmars haueing agreed about y« deuision of S'^ land & layd 
it out : we y^ sayd presons apointed to determin Consarning ye deuision of S"* land, 
doe See Caus to aproue of y' deuision allredy made among them Selues, except anny mistak 
in measuering. 
June ye 8th 1687. 

That this is our agreement or conclusion, wee haue hearunto set our hands. 

Nathan Gold 
John Bur 
John Wheeler 
Recorded this loth of Octobar 1687 by mee, Nathan Gold Recorder. 

No. XVIII 

Wee, whos names are vndar written, being impovured & oppointed by ye GeneroU 
Court in May ye 16* 1687 to set out unto ye inhabitants of ye Bankeside such proportions 
of lands as become due to them by natue of y agreement with ye town of Fayrfield to 
each man by proportion we make retern as followeth. 

As comparing ye lands within fence, which is commonly called ye horse pasture 
which yee formerly inioyed, we find they haue deuided themseues to thar good satisfaction 
as Daniel Frost, Joseph Lockwood, Robert Beacham, John Green, Simon Croutch. It is 
to be noated yt deuesion of land in ye hors pasture yt was so set out to Robert Beacham 
& Joseph Lockwood, shall remain good to them, if ye sd Beacham & Lockwood signe to 
ye agreement yt was made with ye town, bearing date ye 29. June 1666. As for 
ye remainder of ye gained, so called, being within ye sd fence, wee have set out to 
each man his proportion as followeth : 

First: wee haue laid out to ye estate of Daniel Frost deceased & to his sucksesors fiue 
acres anexed, to ye meadow of John Andrews, westward, to ly next to Frost ; we have 
laid out to Joseph Lockwood as he is sucksessor to Henry Grey deceased, fiue acres 
if ye sd Lockwood signe to ye agreement, yt was made with ye town of Fayrfield June ye 
29. 1666 : 3<'ly, next to Joseph Lockwood, wee haue layd out to John Green fiue acres 
lying by ye main creeke, except one small piece nearer hoam, hee to haue a highway a 
rod wide, in some conuenient place through ye sd Lockwood's meadow to come to his 
own. — 4thly next to John Green we haue lay'd out to Robert Beacham fiue acres, as 
hee is sucksessor to Thomas Newton deceased, if ye sd Beacham sign to ye agreement yt 
was made with ye towne Fayrfield June 29* 1666. . . Sthly, Next to Robart Beacham 
wee haue layd out to Simon Croutch, as he is sticcessor to Frances Andrews deceased fiue 
acres, and last after Coutch wee haue layed out fiue acres to ye fiue farmers aboue 
mentioned, to each of y™ an equal proportion which they may call plasteds if they pleas. 

Thus wee haue layd out ye sd land & meadow, to each man his proportion according 

to order. September ye 6th : 1687 

John Bur John Wheeler en 

Thomas Wilson n" 

Ephraham Nichols -^ 

Thomas Jones 3 

Samuel Morehouse i^ 

This is a true copy of Ye originall, recorded & compared this 14. Sep. 1687, by 
mee, Nathan Gold — Recorder 



APPENDIX 



343 



No. XIX 

At a town meeting of ye inhabitants of Fairfield y« 6"' of Ap" 1688, y'= S"^ Town ordered 
y« Pauls neck & y« reedy ponds & y« Swamp and y^ half mile ofComon, lying between 
y^ building & pasture Lots, So called long Since laid out, & two mile & half of y'^ mile of 
Comon it to ly lengthwayes, all which to be forthwith laid out to y^ RightfuU dividers, & 
those if any y' Shall be admitted to divide w"^ y"", to be laid out In manner following, one 
lot to be drawn for all Said Divisions by Each Dividor for his part, & to begin & go on in 
Each Division till y^ whole is finished — Large high wayes to be left round Pauls neck, & 
to begui to lay out S'^ Lots at y« north-east End, one, two, three in order till y'= whole is 
Run out — y* Swamp pond Reeds y^ laying out y^ same to begin by an highway to be 
laid out by Jn° Bulkley's Ditch, one, two, three till all is Run out y' buts against y^ burying 
hill, this tear to run through quite across y« hassuky ground there, & y^ Remaining part of 
y^ Swamp &; hassuks to be fronted on y« high way, to be laid out between y« front of 
Nathan Gold & Will" Reed, & y^ rest of y* meadow y' lies against y« Swamp there, & 
y^ sd Swampy Land to begin in this tear on the north east Side of Said Land by Nathan 
Golds Ditch, & So in order till all that is Run out, & to rear it on y<= tear butting against 
y"^ burying place & y^ ponds. Reeds & hassuks ; y' land lying below y" Cart way over 
y^ Swamp, y^ Lots to run across S'^ Land, buting at Each End South west & north East 
on an high way, which high waye are to be in y^ measure of Each Lot. S<^ bigh way is 
for men to come at y' Land for to bring of their hay, & other needfull occasions there, to 
begin y« laying out this tear next y= S'^ Cart way, so in order till y'^ tear is run out at 
y« beach, & y^ remainder of y« Land w'^'^ lyeth on y<= South East of Nathan Gold's meadow 
w'^'' Land is to front on y« beach & rear on Nathan Gold's meadow. & to begin to lay it out 
by y^ high way y' goes down from y<= Cart way y' goes over y<= Swamp on y« South west 
Side of S'' Tear last laid out, y' runs to y"^ beach, & So to go on in order till all y« Lots are 
laid out. A Liberty is reserved for draining said Swamp & ponds in all necessary places 
for draining & measure, is to be allowed for Said drains, & when y« major part of y^ pro- 
prietors Shall agree to drain S'^ Swamp and ponds, those of S^ Dividors y' will neither help 
their part in draining, nor pay for y'' parts doing. Shall forfeit y^ parts to y^ rest of 
y« Dividors. Jn° Wakeman & Tho= Wilson to lay out S<i Swamp land. & Dan" Burr & 
Eliphelet Hill to lay out Pauls neck— on y^ 9th of Ap" 1688 by reason of Mr. Dan" Burr's 
absence, y« Townsmen appoint Tho^ Wilson, Jn° Wakeman, & Eliphelet Hill to lay out 
y^ Swamp & Pauls neck. 

B. Fairfield Town Votes, p. 81. 

No. XX 



Here followeth y« Divisions of Pauls neck to y^ Several Dividors in 1688, w"> y' order 
of lying. 



1 Jno. Green 

2 Jno. Burr 

3 Henry Jackson 

4 School 

5 Mr. Samuel Wakeman... 

6iJno. Cable Junr 

ySergt. Rich: Hubbell.... 

8 Sergt. George Squire.... 

9 Danll Lockwood 

10. Parsonage 



Rods. Feet. Inches, 



13 



Humphry Hide. 

Robt. Beachem. 

Jno. Banks 

i4!Simon Couch.. . 
islRich. Lyon 

16 Roger Knap 

17 Peter Coly 

181 Jos. Whelplie. . 

19 Tho. Jones 

2o:Samll Godwin.. 



Rods. 


Feet. 


16 


3 


16 


3 


22 


S 


16 


2 


22 


6 


17 


8 


12 





8 





8 


6 


3 






344 



HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD 



Sergt Samll Ward 

Peter Clapham 

Michael Try 

Henry Rowland 

George Squire Junr. . . 

Jacob Gray 

The. Oliver 

Widow Wheeler , 

Samll Tredwell 

John Knowles 

Halls farm 

Robt. Meacar 

Mr Danll Burr 

Tho. Lyon 

John Andrus. ....... 

Jos. Middlebrook 

Tho. Staples 

Jos Patchin 

Tho. Morehouse Senr, 

Math. Sherwood 

Sergt. Jno. Wheeler. 

Joshua Knowles 

Willm Hill 

Willm Ward 

Capt. Robt. Turny... 

Ezbon Wakeman 

Josiah Harvy 

Jno. Cable Junr 

Danll Silleman 

Henderick Hendarson 

Robt. Rumsie 

Phebe & Deb Barlow. 

Nathll Perry 

Mr Jehu Burr 

Jno. Barlow Junr 

Rich. Ogden 

John Bennet 

Samll. Morehouse. . . . 

John Thompson 

Isaac Sherwood 

John Odell 

Nathan Gold 

Mr Pell 



Rods. 


Feet. 


13 


2 


16 


8 


20 





26 


8 


4 


6 


10 





9 





20 


8 


10 





15 





22 


2 


12 


I 


9 


2 


6 


6 


7 


9 


21 


8 


30 


15 


5 





10 


6 


15 





29 


16 


17 


2 


^9 


16 


19 





17 


8 


7 


9 


13 





13 





9 





13 





13 


8 


13 





6 





22 


8 


12 





21 


8 


7 





22 


8 


5 





2 


9 


13 


8 


48 





8 






Inches. 



83 



87 



Sarah Wilson 

Samll Smith 

John Grumon 

Cornelius Hull. . . . 
Thomas Wilson... 

John Sturgis 

Tho. Shervington. 

Willm Odell 

Eleazr. Smith 

Rich Osburn 

Samll Drake 

John Applegate. . . 
Jno. Barlow Senr. . 

Danll. Frost 

Tho. Bennet 

Jno. Hide 

Nathll. Finch 

Jno. Smith 

Tho. Skidmore 

Jos. Lockwood.... 

Nathll. Burr 

Stephen Hedges.. 
Tho. Sherwood . . . 

Isaac Wheeler 

Joshua Jennings.. 

Obed Gilbert 

Stephen Sherwood 

James Beers 

Edward Adams... 

Moses Dimon 

Frances Bradley.. 

Mrs. Jones 

Ben. Turny 

Nathll. Sely 

Jno. Bulkley 

Jno. Tomkins 

Widow Bulkey .... 

Eze. Sanford 

James Bennet 

Jonan. Morehouse 
Jno. Morehouse... 
Tho. Dickenson . . . 



Rods. 


Feet. 


17 


8 


13 
18 






25 





II 





22 


8 


7 


8 


10 





8 





24 
7 


t 


4 





12 





23 





13 





12 





7 


8 


7 





13 





17 





18 


I 


■ 9 





13 

18 




8 


24 
17 
13 


8 
8 
8 


17 





20 





7 
17 


8 
8 


5 
7 


I 
8 


25 





6 


2 


6 





14 





13 





13 





2 





2 











Inches. 



B. Town Votes, p. 24. 



No. XXI 



Here followeth y^ Lots as they are laid out In y^ wolf Swamp before y^ Town, with 
y^ Reed ponds & hassucks, y^ order of y"" lying as on y« other Side of this leaf, being ye 
Same with Pauls neck, with y<= number of rods in y« margent of both S<i wolf Swamp & 
Reeds & Pauls neck, pertaining to Each Divider or proprietor laid out in 1688 : according 
to an order of y'= town, dated y«6* of Ap" 1688. also y^ distinct number of rods Each 
p'son has set on y right hand of Each name as to y^S"^ Swamp, reeds & hassuck. 



Rods. 



103 
132 
138 
47 
98 
73 
145 
127 



Jno. Green , 

Mr Jno. Burr 

Henry Jackson 

School 

Mr Samll Wakeman. 

Jno. Cable Junr 

Sergt. Rich: Hubbell 
Sergt George Squire 
Danll Lockwood .... 
Parsonage 



79 
59 
116 
103 



Feet. 



Inches. 



Rods. 



118 
87 
59 
38 
41 
17 



Humphrie Hide 
Robt Beachem . , 

Jno. Banks 

Simon Couch 

Rich Lyon 

Roger Knap... 

Peter Coly 

Jos. Whelplie. . 

Tho. Jones 

Samll. Goodwin 



Rods. 


Feet. 


70 


4 


70 


9 


95 





6q 


8 


96 


II 


70 





47 





30 





33 





14 






Inches. 



APPENDIX 



345 



Rods 



138 
28 
54 
39 

III 
52 
14 
6q 

228 
43 
83 
63 

93 

I20 

S6 
114 
45 
45 
45 
124 

39 
20 
66 

17 

68 
62 
39 
39 
66 
88 

93 
46 

95 
96 
124 

54 
67 

93 
I06 

4' 



Sergt. Samll. Ward.. 

Peter Clapham 

Michel Fry 

Henry Rowland 

George Squire Junr. 

Jacob Gray 

Tho. Oliver 

Widow Wheeler 

Samll Treadwell . . . . 
Isaac Sherwood. . . . 

Jno. Odell 

Nathan Gold. 

Mr Pell 

Sarah Wilson 

San^ll Smith 

Jno Grumon 

Cornelious Hull 

Tl o Wilson 

John Sturgis 

Tho. Sherrington. . . 
Willm Odell......... 

Eleazer Smith 

Rich Osburn 

Samll. Drake 

Jno. Applegate 

Jno. Barlow Senr. . . . 

Danll Frost 

Tho. Bennet 

Jno. Hide 

Nathll. Finch 

Jno. Smith 

Tho. Skidmore 

Jos. Lockwood 

Nathll. Burr 

Stephen Hedge 

Tho. Sherwood 

Isaac Wheeler 

Joshua Jennings .... 
Obediah Gilbert ... 
Stephen Sherwood.. 

James Beefs 

Edward Adams 

Moses Dimon 



Rods. 



54 
72 
78 
108 
16 
44 
36 
91 
42 

12 

56 
180 

35 
66 

54 
75 
95 
45 
93 
38 
35 
36 
100 



54 
094 
55 
50 
32 
32 
S3 
71 
75 
37 
082 

78 
100 

73 
54 
76 
86 
35 



Inches. 



94 
27 
39 
128 

39 

34 

72 

81 
105 

59 

48 

36 

37 
112 
160 

28 

fe 

149 

87 
103 

97 

87 

41 

69 

72 

49 

43 

68 

66 

29 
119 

60 
iro 

37— 
113 

25 

54 

er- 
9 
9 
9 



Frances Bradley 

Mrs. Jones 

Ben. Turney 

Nathll. Sely 

John Bulkly 

Jno. Tompkins , 

Widow Bulkly 

Jno. Knowles 

Hall's farm 

Robt. Meacar 

Mr Danll. Burr 

Tho. Lyon , 

Jno. Andrus , 

Jos. Middlebrook 

Tho. Staples 

Jos. Patchin 

Tho Morehouse Senr 

Lieut. Math: Sherwood... 

Sergt. John Wheeler 

Joshua Knowles 

Willm Hill 

Willm Ward 

Robt. Turny 

Izbon Wakeman 

Josiah Harvey 

Jno. Cable 

Danll. Silleman 

Henry Hendrickson 

Robt. Rumsie 

Phebe & Deborah Barlow. 

Nathll. Perry 

Jehu Burr 

Jno. Barlow Junr 

Rich: Ogden 

Jno. Bennet 

Samll Morehouse 

Jno. Tomson 

Eze. Sanford 

James Bennet 

Tho. Dickenson 

Jno. Morehouse 

Jonathn Morehouse 



32 
>03 
33 
28 
58 
66 
85 
47 
39 
30 
35 
191 
130 

23 
46 
61 
120 
70 
84 
78 
70 
44 
56 
59 
40 

30 
55 
055 
23 
97 
48 
85 
30 
91 
20 

51 

56 

7 

7 

7 



Feet. 



Inches . 



B. Town Votes p. 93. 



No. XXII 



Here follows a draught of y= Lots for Pauls' neck & y= wolf Swamp & reedy ponds, & 
ys two half mile of Coffion, & two miles in length of y^ mile of Cofnon, more fully appear- 
ing in an order of y« town dated y= 6"> of Ap" 1688., & y' each divider Should draw one 
Lot for his part of Said Divisions. 



Widow Wheeler 28 — Thos. Bennet. 

Halls' Farm 31 

Jos. Whelplie 18 

Jno. Odell 61 

Samll. Treadwell 29 

Isaac Wheeler 87 

James Bennet 102 

Math w. Sherwood 40 

Rich: Hubll 07 

Henry Jackson 3 

Michael Fry 23 

Ezll. Sanford loi 

Roger Knap 16 



78 

Serjt. Squire 8 

Jos. Middlebrook 36 

Tho. Jones 19 

Willm. Hill 43 

Nathan Gold 62 

Sarah Wilson 64 

Ben Turny 96 

Nathll. Burr 84 

Willm. Ward 44 

Danll. Burr 33 

Moses Dimon 93 

Tho. Wilson 



Thos. Morehouse 39 Stephen Sherwood . 

Danll. Silleman 49 

Thos. Oliver 27 

Nathll. Sely 97 

Willm. Odell 71 

Samll. Morehouse 58 

Robt. Turny 45 



90 

Mr Harvy 47 

Widow Bulkley 100 

Jos. Bulklv 98 

Tho. Staples 37 

Edward Adams 92 

Jno. Grummon 66 



Robt. Meacar 32 

Mrs. Jones 95 

Jacob Gray 26 

Jehu Burr 54 

Jno. Banks 13 

Isburn Wakeman 46 

Tho. Skidmore 82 

Stephen Hedge 85 

Cor. Hull 67 

Jno. Burr 2 

Obed Gilbert 89 

Joshua Jennings 88 

Henry Rowland 24 

Joshua Knowls 42 

Jno. Cable Senr 48 

'Rich Osborne 73 

Frances Bradly 94 

Tho. Sherwood 86 

Goodman Hide 79 

Peter Coly 17 



346 



HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD 



Peter Clapham 22 

Jno. Knowles 30 

Jno. Sturgis 69 

Jno. Cable Junr 6 

Danll. Lockwood 9 

James Beers 91 

Samll. Drake 74 

Jno. Aplegate 75 

Samll. Smith 65 

Jno. Barlow Senr 76 

Jno. Barlow Junr 55 

Eleaz Smith 72 

Robt. Rumsie 51 

Tompkins 99 



Samll. Ward 21 . Isaac Sherwood 60 

Rich. Ogden 56 Samll. Godwin 20 

Jos. Lockw 83 Febe & Deb Barlow 52 

Danll. Frost 77 Nathll. Perry 33 

Jno. Green qi Mr Pell 63 

Robt. Beachem i2^Jno. Bennet 57 

Jno. Wheeler 41 Tho. Lyon 34 

Hendrich Henderson 50 Jno. Smith 8i 

Mr. Wakeman 05 Tho. Sherwington 70 

George Squire Junr 25 Simon Couch 14 

Parsonage 10 Jno. Andrus 35 

School 04 Patchin 38 ^ 

Finch 80 Jno. Tomson 59 



B. Town Votes, p. 92. 



No. XXIII 



Here followeth y^ names of y'' freemen allowed by y^ Townsmen of Fairfield, & Sworn 
this 18* of March 1689/90. 



Robt Rumsie * 

Samll Drake * 

Jos. Bastard * 

Samll Robinson * 

Epm. Nickols * 

Jno. Wakeman *^ 

Jno. Sturgis junr 

Nathan Gold junr. 

Elipht Hill * 

Samll. Squire * 

Samll. Adams * 

Abram Adams 

Nathll. Burr Junr* 

Jose : Seeley * 

Jno. Wheeler 

Willm Hill 

Tho. Willson * 

James Neuton * 

Jas. Beers * 

John Whetlock * 

Samll Hub'U* — 

Willm. Reed * 

Benjn. Banks * 

Jno. Odell Junr 

Jacob Gray * 

Jno. Osburn Sworn ye 17th March 

I 690/ I 
Mr Charles Chauncey * 
Mr Peter Burr 
Jos : Phippeny 
Jnn. Sturgis 
Samll. Couch 
Simon Couch 
Jno. Edwards 
George Squire * 
Jnn. Squire 
Rich Lyon 
Serjt. Ma : w Sherwood * 



Tim: Wheeler 
Rich: Hubbll 
Samll Gregory * 
Theoph : Hull * 
Jos : Sturgis 
Moses Dimon 
Thadus Burr 
Ephrm Burr 
Jehu Burr 
David Treadwell 
Benjn. Banks 
Jno Hide Senr 
Jas. Beers 

Samll. Bradley Senr 
Jacob Gray 
Peter Sturgi? 
Samll. Osburn 
Hen : Rowland 
Samll. Hall 
Davd Sherman 
James Bennet 
Jno. Burr 
Giddeon Allin 
Jos. Jennings 
Mr. Jos. Webb 
Samll. Cable * 
Moses Dimon 
Samll. Wheeler * 
Jno. Smith 
Samll. Treadwell 
Robt. Silleman 
Samll. Odell 
Danll. Morehouse 
Lieut. Jos. Wakeman 
Abell Bingham * 
Jno. Treadwell 
Jno. Darling 
Jno. Barlow * 



Samll. Smedley 
Jno. Downs 
Jno. Osburn 
Jacob Patchin '' 
Tho. Sanford 

The Revd. Danll Chapman. 
James Sely 
Jno. Wheeler 
Robt. Turny 
David Sturgis 
Tho. Turny 
Andrew Burr 
Tho. Couch 
Danll. Adams 
Peter Bulkly 
Thos. Disbrow 
George Hull 
Peter Coly 
Benjn. Gilbert 
Samll. Gold 
Samll. Couch Junr 
Jos. Wakeman 
Jos. Darling 
Jos. Crane 
Davd Hubll 
Eleazer Sturgis 
Nathll. Burr Junr 
Ebenz. Dimon 
Jno. Barthram 
Capn. Mathw Sherwood 
Jno. Odell Senr 
Ens. Isaac Wheeler * 
> Lieut. James Bennet * 
Samll. Morehouse 
Samll. Treadwell Senr 
Tho. Jones 
Jno. Bulkley * 
Benjn. Fairweather 

B. Town Votes, p. 



I 



GENEALOGIES 



GENEALOGIES 



The brief genealogical record of this work has necessarily been very imperfectly gathered. 
But little assistance has been given to the author, save by those who have donated their own labor, 
in compiling a far more full family genealogy than she could possibly find time to give to any one 
family. Those which she has given are intended as guides to persons who may be compiling full 
family genealogies. Carrying, as her aim has been, as far as time and opportunity have offered, 
the names of the pioneers of Fairfield and their descendants for three generations, many persons 
at the present time will, from them, be able to make their family links, by comparing them with 
home records and family Bibles. The Probate and Town records of Fairfield are rich with recorded 
and unrecorded wills on file. Many of the latter bear coats of arms stamped upon the seals. 
The Probate and Town records of Fairfield and Bridgeport, with their parish records, and the 
parish records of Green's Farms, Greenfield Hill, Redding, Easton and Weston, offer valuable 
assistance to the genealogist. The author deeply regrets, for want of time and the assistance 
which every family should take pride in contributing towards this undertaking, her inability to 
give other names, as worthy of mention as some of those which she has given. To write full 
genealogies of all the early settlers of Fairfield, even for three generations, would be a life work of 
several volumes. 

GENEALOGICAL TABLE 

ADAMS 

Edward Adams was at New Haven in 1640, was in Milford in 1646, & at Fairfield in 1650. 
He purchased a house & home-lot of Andrew Ward 7. Dec. 1653, west of Hyde's Pond, but 
soon removed to Barlow's Plain. In his will dated 7. Aug. 1671, he mentions s. Samuel, to 
whom he gave his house & home-lot in the town, lying between Francis Bradley's & John 
Tompkins, provided he finished it at his own expense, after being furnished with stones, mortar, 
& attendance for the walls to be thirteen feet high, to be paid for out of the estate ; to s. Abra- 
ham ten acres at Barlow's Plain, lying next that he gave his d. Mary's husband, Samuel Robinson ; 
and other lands ; to d. Mary Merwin, whose first husband was Luke Guire, two acres in Barlow's 
Plain, running down to the large pond. He gave to ss. Samuel & Abraham part of his long-lot, 
& commonage ; & to his d. Mary commonage & part of his long-lot. All the rest of his land, hous- 
ing, movables & cattle he gave to his wife Mary, while she remained his widow, & entailed it to 
his minor sons Nathaniel, John, & Nathan. Mary Adams m. Luke Guire of F. 23 Feb. 1663, who 
died early leaving one son Luke, who was remembered by his grandfather Edward Adams, in 
his will. 

Sa.muel I. s. of Edward Adams i. m. first d. of , & l^ad Samuel, b. 1. Jan. 1677, & 

Daniel, 17. May 1679. He next m. Mary, d. of Robert Meeker, 15. July 1679. Their children 
were Sarah, b. 3 Oct. 1680; Abigail, 25. March 1682; Elizabeth, 3. Feb. 16S4 ; Abraham, i. 
Jan. 1685 ; Jonathan, Oct. 1686 ; David, 24. June 1689 ; Benjamin, 28. Dec i6go ; John, 6 Sept 
1692. 

Abraham, s. of Edward Adams i. m. Sarah d. of & was not bapt. until 9 Dec 1694 at 

F. Their children were Deborah & Hannah bapt. 20 Jan 1694^ ; Mary, Abigail, Susanna & 
Elizabeth, all bapt. 24. Feb. 1694^, at F. 



350 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD 

Nathan i. s. of Edward i. m. Mary , d. of Joseph James, who was not bapt. until 23 Dec 

1694 at F, Their children were Nathan, Nathaniel & Candey, all bapt. 23 Dec. 1694 ; Ruth, 
bapt. II Oct 1696; Mary, 2. Oct 1698; Jonathan, i. Sept. 1700; Avis, 29. Nov 1702; & 
Nathaniel again i Oct 1714. He probably settled early at Green's Farms, where his descendants 
are still found. 

Nathaniel & John ss. of Edward Adams i. died unmarried. 

Daniel i.s. of Samuel Adams i. m. Rebecca, d. of . Their children were Rebecca, bapt. 

30 Aug 1702 & m. Joshua Jennings 3. Feb 1724 ; Samuel, ig. March 1703- ; Daniel, 29. June 
'1707 ; Sarah, — 1711 ; & Elizabeth, 2. June 1717. 

The Adams family early settled at Green's Farms and Westport. 

ANDREWS 

Andros, Androws & Andrews. Francis Andrews was in Hartford in 1639, where he m. 
Anne d. of prof. Giles Smith, & had there s. John b. 27. Sepf. 1646 ; & Thomas 2. Jan. -1648. He 
removed to F. soon after & became one of the Bankside farmers, where his home-lot of ten acres 
lay west of Daniel Frost's. He made his will on 6, June 1662, which was probated 5. March 
1662-3. jjj jijg ^jji j,g gave to his s. Thomas 5 acres of land at Bankside, & a piece of land in his 
home-lot to set a house upon, a gun-barrel & a stock ; to s. John 3 acres of the lower end of his 
home-lot, & a piece of land 4 rods wide, with a house upon it, provided he allowed his mother the 
use of another house as good, 3 acres of meadow, called the heather-bite, & a gun. To s. Jere- 
miah a rapier, a staff & 20s. ; to s. Abraham 20^-. ; to d's Mary, Hester, Rebecca & Ruth io.f. each 
when 18 yrs. of age ; to John Crampton husband of his d. Hannah 3 roods of land in his home- 
lot next his house, provided he fenced it all around with a five rail fence ; to granddaughter Han- 
nah Crampton 10s. ; to his wife Anna house, land, & the remainder of his estate. He made Dry 
Thomas Pell overseer of his estate. Jeremiah Andrews lived in Stamford & d. about 1713. 

Thomas i. s. of Francis Andrews i., (Savage calls s. of Francis living at Milford 1675-1700), 
m. Eliza d. of Robert Porter of Farmington, & had Hannah & Mary bapt. 31. May 1685, & per- 
haps a family of other children. Savage's Gen. Die. This may not have been the son of Francis 
of F. (h*UjU^ '-^ :)<'U^-i^^ J-..^ ^ "^vi^^ K^xJL^ ^ 

John i. s. of Francis Andrews i. of F. m. Sa*afe-4r-ef-Si«T0Tr Cuirdi. Their children were John, yy^^t^ 
b. 24. Oct. 1679 & Sarah, 12. Jan. 1680, & d. in 1683. F. T. Rec. He with Simon Couch, who 
m. his sister Mary Andrews, purchased of the other heirs, & of their mother the long-lot & 
other lands of Francis Andrews i. at Fairfield. He was deeded several parcels of land by his 
father at Bankside, & owned a considerable land at Turkey-hill. In the distribution of his estate 
in 1733 w. Sarah is mentioned ; d. Abigail w. of William Edwards ; d. Hannah w. of Samuel 
Osborn ; d. w. Thomas Couch ; d. Isabel w. Robert Rumsey & d. Deborah w. of Jacob 

P- Jones. ■^A.^^^'"''!^'''^ 

John 2. s. of John Andrews i. m. ^^^^ d. of — ^==^- & was not bapt. until 27. June ^I'^'^x^JJ^ 

at which time his s. John was baptized. His d. Abigail was bapt. 14. Aug. 1709 ; EleaaeTr^4. 
Nov. 1711 ; Daniel, 13. June 1714 & d. 1728. F. Par. Rec. 

John 3. s. of John Andrews 2. m. Sarah, d. of Simon Couch 28. Oct. 1730 & settled at Bank- 
side. Their children were Sarah, b. 6. Aug. 1731 ; John, 17. March 1734 ; Abraham, 23. Aug. 
1735 ; Abigail, 13. Dec. 1736 ; Ellinor, 4. Aug. 1738 ; Samuel, 23. Feb. 1740 ; Isabel, 20. Sept. 
1742 ; Simon, Deborah, & Hannah 28. Oct. 1744. 

Abraham s. of Francis Andrews i. lived in Danbury where he died in 1735. 

It appears that the Andrew's family of Bankside or Green's, Farms trace their descent from 
Francis i. through his son John. Among the distinguished descendants of this family was Judge 
Andrews of Ohio, whose monument rests over his grave in the cemetery at Green's Farms. 



GENEALOGIES 331 

BANKS 

John Banks was one of the first settlers of Windsor, Conn., & was a lawyer by profession. In 
1643 he was appointed town clerk, & also " to size the weights & measures of the several towns in 
the colony." He settled at F. soon after, & was granted a home-lot by the town ; but on the 12. 
of Jan. 1649, he purchased Daniel Frost's house & home-lot of 3J acres on the Frost Square. 
When Rye fell under the jurisdiction of Connecticut, he, with his sons were among the first land- 
holders of that town ; which he represented from 1670 to 1673. He soon returned to F., & was 
prominent in all the exciting events of that period. He was one of the richest men in F. & one of 
the largest land holders in F. Co. It is to be greatly regretted that so little is known of his early 
history ; but that he was from one of the best families of England there is no doubt. 

Savage states that "by tradition his first wife was a d. of Charles Tainter of Weathersfield," 
who also afterwards resided at F. (where his will is probated & dated 20. Oct. 1658,) & had one 
child at Windsor. His second wife was Mary Fitch wid. of Thomas Sherwood i of F. His will 
is dated 12. Jan. 1685, about which time he died. He gave his wife Mary the use of his house & 
home-lot, 3c acres on the front of his long-lot ; several other pieces of land ; 40/^. out of his house- 
hold goods & chattels ; the use of his silver tankard & of two Indian boys, one negro woman, & 
two cows. He gave to his son John Banks 150 acres at Byram River, 30 acres in the plain of same 
place above the main road ; 40 or 50 acres at Horseneck, & the Island called Calves' Island " lying 
before said neck." To s. Obediah, all land above Pine Creek at F. & several other parcels of land. 
To s. Benjamin his pasture-lot & building-lot, & land at the Rocks purchased of Thomas I.yon ; 
two miles of his long-lot in the rear of that given to his wife, " he allowing proper high ways ; half 
of his Perpetual Common ; dividends at Compo, & 160 acres purchased of Blackley & Brandford. 
To his grandson, s. of his s. John, he gave all the land he left for the use of his wife after her death ; 
the other half of his long-lot ; one half of his Perpetual Common, and his silver tankard, after his 
wife's death. To his d. Susanna, wife of Jonathan Sturgis I. 20s. & to her s. John Sturgis when of 
age io£. To grandson, Benjamin s. of his s. Benjamin lo;,^., when of age. To his d. Hannah, wife 
of Daniel Burr of Upper Meadow 5,;^., & to his son in-law Daniel Burr, a meadow between the 
Old Field & Pine Creek. To d. Mary w. of John Taylor 20^. To sons John, Obediah & Ben- 
jamin Banks, as executors, he left all remaining undisposed of estate, who were to cover out of the 
estate, the foreside of his dwelling house & barn with shingles within one year from the date of his 
decease. To his step-son Mathew Sherwood, he gave a lot in the Old Indian Field, for work to 
be done about his house, which they had formerly agreed upon. He had a s. Joseph, who died 
Oct. 1682. 

Sergt. John 2. s. of John Banks i. m. Abigail d. of , & settled at Greenwich, & d. 1699. 

Of him I know no more. 

Benjamin, s. of John Banks i. m. Elizabeth d. of Richard Lyon i., 29. Jan. 1679, & had 
Benjamin b. 30, Oct. 1682 ; Elizabeth 26. Nov. 1685 ; & probably other children. He died 
about 1692, & his widow m. W? Rowlson. 

Obedi.\h, s. of John Banks i. d. unmarried about i6gi. In his will he mentions cousin 
Joseph, s. of his bro. John ; sister Mary Taylor ; bro. I5enjamin, bro. Samuel & sister Rebecca 
Wheeler, d. of Sergt. John Wheeler. 

Benjamin, s. of Benjamin Banks 2. b. Nov. 168 1, (probably a mistake for 30. Oct. 1682.) 
covenanted & bapt. 5. June 1726. Ruth, wife of Benjamin Banks, b. 18. May 1683, bapt. in 
infancy. Their children were Benjamin, b. 8, Aug. 1706 ; Thomas, 13. Nov. 1707 ; John, 8. 
Sept. 1710, & died about four years of age ; Gershom, i. May 1712 ; Johanna, 28. Feb. 1714-- ; 
John, 7. Nov. 1717 ; David, 22. April 171S ; Nehemiah, 27. April 1720, & died in infancy ; 
Mary, 18. March I72i"2. His first wife died, & he m. the wid. Sarah Hull, & had son Eliph- 
alet b. 25. July 1740. 

Joseph, s. of John Banks 2. b. 29. Dec 1691, & bapt. 13. April 1712. He m. Mary b. 8 



352 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD 

Jan. 1693. Their children were Joseph, b. 12. April ; Sarah, i. Feb. lyis-'-^ ; David, 22. 

April ; & Mindwell, 6. Oct 1720 ; Nehemiah, 2S. Feb. 1722 ; Ebenezer, g. Dec 1724 ; Mary, 

19, July 1731. 

BARLOW 

John Barlow i. was one of the earliest settlers of F. He owned the lot next S. W. of Roger 
Ludlow, on the Ludlow Square. He sold this place to Thomas Morehouse before 1653, & set- 
tled on the beautiful plain, running northwest of the Ludlow Square & Concord Field, which in 
honor of his name was called Barlow's Plain. He was possessed of a large estate. His will is 
dated 28. March 1674, in which he mentions w. Ann, & children John ; Isabella w. of Peter Clap- 
ham ; Ruth, w. of Francis Bradley ; Elizabeth w. of Daniel Frost ; Martha w. of James Beers i. & 
Deborah w. of John Sturgis. 

John 2. s. of John Barlow i. m. Abigail, d. of Robert Lockwood. Their children were : 
John, Joseph, Samuel, Abigail, Deborah, Elizabeth & Ruth. Elizabeth was b. 11. May 1677. 
(F. T. Rec.) Abigail, m. Jonathan Rowland 28. Jan. 1690. The inventory of his estate was 
taken 6. March 1690^1. F. T. Rec. 

John 3. s. of. John Barlow 2. renewed the Church Covenant at F. on the 24. of Feb. 1694^. 
His s. John was bapt. at the same time ; Samuel, bapt. 26. April 1696 ; Abigail, 5. Sept. 1697, 
Ann, 19. Nov. 1699 ; Joseph, 18. May 1701 ; Francis, 16. Aug. 1702 ; Sarah, 5. March 1703- ; 
Deborah, 3, March 1705^, at which time the father was called Lieut. F. Par. Rec. 

Samuel i. s. of John Barlow 3. m. d. of their children were : Gershom, bapt. 17 

Feb. 1705*^ ; Samuel, 16. March 1706^ ; Gershom, 19, Dec. 1708 ; Samuel, 22 : Jan 1709-- ; 
Daniel, 28, Oct. 1711, at which time the father was called Serg^ ; Elizabeth, 20, June 1714 ; 
Abigail, 5, Aug. 1716 ; Mary, 2, Nov. 1718. F. Par. Rec. 

Samuel 2. s. of Samuel Barlow i m. Eunice, d. of Daniel Bradley 12, Aug. 1731, & lived at 
Redding. Theirchildren were : Daniel, b. 24 Nov. -1^34 ; Ruhamah, 22, Jan. 1737 ; James, 29, 
Jan. 1739 ; Jabez, 21, March 1742. -.- 

Samuel Barlow 2, again m. second wife, Esther, d. of Nathaniel Hull, 7. Aug. 1744 j Their 
children were Nathaniel, b. 13, May 1745 ; Aaron, 11, Feb. 1750 ; Samuel, 3. April 1752; & Joel, 
24. March, 1754. The father died 20. Dec. 1773. 

Joel s. of Samuel Barlow 2 ; born at Redding 24 March 1754, first entered Dartmouth 
College in 1774 or 5 ; but graduated with high honors at Yale in 1778, in the class with Hon. " 
Zepheniah Swift ; Uriah Tracy ; Noah Webster ; Oliver & Alexander Wolcott, & other distin- 
guished men, at which time he delivered a creditable poem entitled, "The Prospect of Peace." 
He early showed talent of a superior quality, & became a marked favorite with Dr. Trumbull & 
Dr. Dwight. He was an intimate college friend of Thomas Paine, who probably had not at that 
time become imbued with French infidelity. He studied law, & divinity for a short time, & after 
being licensed as a Congregational minister, he became a Chaplain in the army of the Revolution 
until the close of the war. In 1783 he opened a law office at Hartford, & upon Elisha Babcock 
removing his printing press from Springfield to Hartford, he entered into partnership with him in 
editing " The American Mercury." In 1785 he was chosen by the General Association of the 
Congregational Church, to revise the Psalms of Dr Watts. In 1787 he published his "Vision of 
Columbus ; " but his popular poem entitled " Hasty Pudding," written in France in 1793, exhib- 
ited a more decided poetical talent. In 1788 he went to England, as agent for the " Sciota Land 
Company," & then to France, where he became interested in the politics of the country, &, giving 
up his agency, joined the Girondists. In 1791 he returned to England, & there causing offence by 
his publications, he returned to France in 1792. In 1795 he was appointed by General Washington 
Consul to Algiers, where he effected a treaty which liberated Americans held as slaves by the Dey. 
He also succeeded in a treaty at Tripoli, by which the American prisoners there were redeemed: 
In 1797 he returned to Paris, & in 1S05 to the United States, & settled in the vicinity of George- 



GENEALOGIES 353 

town. In 1808 he published the great poem of his life "The Columbiad ;" which was repub- 
hshed in i8ir in London. He was diligently engaged in writing a history of the United States in. 
1812, when he was appointed by General Washington Minister Plenipotentiary to France. 
Unfortunately, while on his way to Wilna to confer with the Emperor Napoleon, he contracted a 
severe cold, & died from inflammation of the lungs at Zarwanica, a small village in Poland, 2. Oct. 
1812. He m. Ruth, a d. of Michael Baldwin of New Haven, who with her sister Clarissa 
accompanied her husband to France. Clarissa m. Col. Bomford of the U. S. Army. Both ladies 
were sisters of the Hon. Henry Baldwin of Pittsburg, Penn., & probably half sisters of the Hon. 
Abraham TBaldwin of Georgia. Hinman's Puritan Settlers, Vol. i. pp. 113, 131. 

Thomas Barlow early settled at F.. & was probably a near kinsman of John Barlow i. He 
was granted from the town six acres of land on the n. w. of the school & church land on the n. w. 
corner of the Frost Square, which was recorded 3, Dec. 1653. His will is dated 8, Sept. 165S, in 
which he mentions wife Rose & their children Phebe, Deborah & Mary. He appointed Dr. 
Thomas Pell overseer of his children & estate. He was a large land holder in F., & his surviving 
children Phebe & Deborah, were granted the various land dividends made by the town after his 
death. His d. Mary, probably died before him, or about the same time, as no mention is made 
of her in the distribution of his estate. I have seen mention of a s. Thomas, who must have died 
before liis father. His wife Rose was probably the widow of Thomas Rumbell of Stratford, 
Conn., who came to N. E. in the ship True Love in 1635 aged 22, & served in the Pequot War. 
Mrs. Rose Barlow, the widow, m. Edward Nash of Norwalk. Phebe Barlow m. Francis 01m- 
stead of Norwalk Ct. Deborah Barlow m. John Burritt of Stratford Ct. Francis Olmstead & 
John Burritt on the 2, Sept. 1700, in right of their wives, sold the Barlow six acre lot, in the rear 
of the meeting-house, to the Rev. Joseph Webb for 30/". 

BARTRAM 

John Bartram settled at F. & m. Sarah d. of . Their children were John b. 23. Feb. 

1690*-^; a child not named 10. May 1692 ; John again 9. Jan 1693^; Joseph, 8, Aug. 1696. [F. 
T. Rec] Sarah, bapt. 23. Dec. 1694 ; Ebenezer, 30. April 1699 ; David, 13. Dec. 1702 ; & Sarah, 
7. May 1704. F. Par. Rec. 

John 2. s. of John Bartram i. settled at Greenfield & m. Sarah, the widow of Francis Bradley 
2. Their children were, Sarah, b. 14. May 1719. and perhaps others. 

Ebenezer s. of John Bartram i. m. Elizabeth, d. of . Their children were Hannah, bapt. 

4. July 1731 ; Ebenezer, 18. June 1732 ; Job, 30. March 1735 ; Eulalia, 3. July 1737 ; Barnabas, 
30. Sept. 1739. F. Par. Rec. 

David i. s. of John Bartram i. m. Mehitabel, d. of . Their children were John, bapt. 

24. Oct. 1731 ; Hannah, 25. Nov. 1733 ; David, 25. May 1735 ; Paul, 17. Oct. 1736 ; James, 23. 
April 173S ; Isaac, 25. Jan. 1740^^- ; Elizabeth & Sarah 11, Sept. 1743 ; David again, 27. Oct. 1745. 
F. Par. Rec. 

The Bartram family are represented by the family of the late Captain Joseph Bartram of 
Black Rock. 

BEERS 

James Beers i. was an early settler at Sasquag, now Southport, where he was presented with 
8 acres of laud from the Indians, which, by tradition is located, where the Congregational church 
now stands. In 1669 he recorded iS acres on the west side of Sasco River, which was confirmed 
io him by the town 10. Feb. 1661. Cothren of Woodbury makes him a son of Capt. Richard Beers 
of Watertown, a Pequot soldier, but Savage thinks this a mistake, & that he may have been a 
iirother. He became one of the largest land-holders in F., sharing in all the dividends of the 
irv^iship. He m. Martha; d. of John Barlow i., by whom he had several children. In his will 
d.\'. d 14. Nov 1694, he provides for his w. Martha, & gives to his s. Joseph all the rest of his 

23 



354 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD 

estate, provided he paid the following legacies ; viz : an annual, stipulated support to his mother. 
Martha ; to d. Martha, w. of Joseph Bulkley, who had had a larger marriage dower than her 
sisters 15;;^ ; to d. Deborah, w. of Samuel Hull* 23^^ ; to d. Elizabeth, w. of John Darling, 23^^. 
He confirmed to the children of his deceased s. James, lands he had deeded their father ; & to his 
eldest grandson David Beers, his wolve's swamp & Paul's Neck division. 

James 2. s. of James Beers i. was for a time at Pequonnock, where he purchased 12. Sept 
1660, of Andrew Ward, James Evarts' house & home-lot, lying between the home-lots of Joseph 
Middlebrook, & Thomas Wheeler sr. He lived for a time at Woodbury, but was again in F., 

where in 1684, he purchased land at Sasco Hill of John Osborn. He m. d. of Capt. Richard 

Osborn. His children were Sarah, b. 8. May 1673 ; James, 28. June 1677 ; & Joseph, 11, July 1679, 
David & Mary. He died in 1691, leaving a handsome estate. 

Joseph i s. of James Beers i. m. Abigail, d. of . Their children were Joseph, b. 13. 

March 16889 ; Abigail, 24. April 1692 ; James & probably others. He died in 1697, leaving a 
good estate. 

BRADLEY 

The first of this name in F. was Francis Bradley, who resided in Branford in 1657, and 
came to F. in 1660. He is mentioned in the New Haven records as early as 1650, and was then a 
member of the family of Governor Theophilus Eaton, probably articled to him, as was the custom 
of those times, when it was desired to have a young man brought up to a particular business, or 
under the auspices of a particular person. If conjecture is right as to his parentage, his father 
and Eaton were school-mates, and nearly of the same age. He had an only brother, John Bradley 
of London, who died at an advanced age in March 1697. There is much reason to believe that 
they were sons of Francis Bradley Junior of the city of Coventry, who was born in 1595, & was 
son & heir of Francis Bradley Senior. Theophilus Eaton was born in Coventry in 1592, his 
father being minister of one of the Churches of that city ; and Rev. John Davenport, co-leader with 
Eaton of the New Haven Colony, was born in the same city in 1597. As they all belonged to 
Puritan families, there is little doubt that Francis Bradley Junior, whose father was a man of 
respectability, (entitled to his " coat of arms "), was on intimate terms with both of these eminent 
men ; and when, as happened in course of time, Eaton became a prominent merchant, and Daven- 
port a popular preacher, in London, it is quite natural that Francis Bradley Junior should place 
his sons under their auspices in the great city, and entrust his younger son, Francis, to the personal 
care of his friend Eaton. 

Francis Bradley Junior had an uncle in Coventry, named William Bradley, a younger brother 
of his father, conjectured to have been the father of William Bradley, who came to this country 
and settled at New Haven (or North Haven) in 1644, taking the oath of fidelity in August of that 
year ; and whose step-mother, with her family of small children, Ellen, Daniel, Joshua, Nathan 
& Stephen Bradley, came over a year or two later, and became the ancestors of a numerous 
progeny, who look back to New Haven & Guilford as the places of their family origin.* 

If Francis Bradley came from England with Governor Eaton in 1637, he could have been but 
a mere lad. It is possible that he came over with his cousin William in 1644, and was commended 

* A pedigree and arms of the Bradley family of Coventry are recorded in Camden's " Visitation of the 
County of Warwick in 1619," published in Vol. XII of the Harleian Society publications. The pedigree embraces, 
I. William Bradley of Sheriff-Hutton, county of York (who must have lived in Henry VIII's time): 2. William 
Bradley son of the preceding, of the city of Coventry, Co. of Warwick : 3, 4, 5, were Francis, Thomas and Wil- 
I lAM, the three sons of the litter, who were born in Elizabeth's reign : 6. Francis Bradley Junior, son & heir of 
the preceding Francis, 24 years of age in 1619 when the visitation was made. His uncle William had at that time 
four daughters, and an infant son not yet named. The Bradley family of Yorkshire, of which this was a branch, 
may be traced back to a remote period. A Sir Francis Bradky flourished there in Edward Ill's time. (Harl. Soc. 
Pub. XVI. 147.) 



GENEALOGIES 355 

to Eaton's care by his father. In Governor Eaton's house he had the highest religious and intel- 
lectual advantages. Cotton Mather gives an interesting account of the manner of life pursued in 
the Governor's establishment. Sometimes as many as thirty members of his own household sat 
down at his table, and he was in the habit of administering to them wise and godly discourse.* 
The influence of his high character and example, must have been very great with the young men 
under his charge. Francis Bradley seems to have profited by these advantages. All that we hear 
of him in the scanty notices that are preserved, are to his credit. He was evidently a young man 
of respectability when he settled at Fairfield. Soon after his arrival he married Ruth Barlow, a 
daughter of John Barlow, and thus became connected with some of the principal families of the 
place. Being a'dmitted a freeholder of the town, he became entitled to all the privileges of a settler, 
including a participation in the dividends of the town lands. In October 1664, at a General 
Assembly at Hartford, he (with others) was accepted as a freeman of Fairfield under the govern- 
ment of Connecticut, before the Colony of New Haven had accepted the charter. In March 1666 
he purchased the house and homestead lot of William Hayden in the town plot of Fairfield, con- 
sisting of 2h acres of land. 

Francis Bradley had seven children, four sons and three daughters, all of whom, as well as his 
wife, survived him. Their names and the approximate dates of their birth, are as follows : i. Ruth, 
b. 1662; 2. John, 1664; 3. Abigail, 1667; 4. Francis, 1670; 5. Daniel, 1673 '• 6. Joseph, 1676; 
7. Mary, De*. 5, 1679, the record of her birth being preserved. Francis Bradley d. in October, 
l6Sg, leaving a will dated 22nd of January preceding. The inventory of his estate amounted to 
£64$, exclusive of the portion set off to his eldest son, John, shortly before his death. 

His descendants are numerous, and to be found in many of the Northern States ; but the first 
three or four generations continued to reside in Fairfield and its vicinity, particularly in and about 
Greenfield Hill, partly on the "long lot" assigned to him, & other purchases and called the 
Bradley lands, which extended across the Aspetuck river north of Saugatuck. He left all his sons 
homesteads, besides their shares in his common lands, subject to legacies to his daughters. John, 
the eldest, had a homestead lot given to him at Greenfield ; others, in Fairfield village. The 
eldest daughter, Ruth, married Thomas Williams. Abigail remained unmarried. Whether Mary 
married is not known. 

The descendants of Francis Bradley, in the second and third generations, living in and about 
Greenfield during the last century, were a highly respectable and worthy class of people, some of 
them occupying positions of official trust and influence. They were the people amongst whom 
President Dwight spent those pleasant years of his ministerial life from 17S3 to 1795, when he wrote 
his pastoral poem of "Greenfield Hill." His "female worthy," Mrs. Eleanor Sherwood, was a 
daughter of Francis Bradley, the second, and his congregation included a large number of families 
of that name. 

The following letter, written by John Bradley of London, to his brother Francis, in 1696, 
(in ignorance of his brother's death) illustrates the infrequency of communication with the mother 
country in those early tinjes, and the already close connection between New York and the towns 
along the Sound. 

'■ These for his very loving Brother, Francis Bradley of Fairfield in New England. 

" Dear Brother : It is now 10 years since I received a letter from you, tho' I have seen several 
seamen since, but no one could tell me whether you are in the land of the living as I am, which 
blessed be ye Almighty, tho in ye 74th (or 77) year of my age ; and I begin to think I can by no 
means live long ; which puts me in mind of settling ye small estate I have, & I have no children 
of my own, neither any relation nighe so near and dear to me as yourself and your children. 
Therefore, dear brother, I do heartily wish and desire y' you were here yourself or if it were 
possible y' I might have y^ happiness to see you before I die, which would be the greatest 

* Magnalia, Book II. c. IX. sect. VII. 



356 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD 

satisfaction to me in the world : but if that cannot be, then I should be glad if you have any one 
of your sons that is a sprightly boy and about the age of i6 or 17 years, that hath been pretty 
well bred, to bind him over to me, and I will take care of him. If this come to hand, be sure 
to let me hear from you. I send it on adventure according to your last directions, to Mr. Willson 
of New York. You may direct to me at my house in Red Lyon Street, near the Cross-Keys in 
Holborn. This is all at present, but to let you know, that I am dear sir, your most affectionate 
brother. John Bradley. 

" London, January 24, 1695 (1696)." 

The writer of this letter died about a year after its date, and probably not receiving any word 
from his brother's family, bequeathed all his property, a few days before his death, to his wife 
Elizabeth. 

GENEALOGICAL RECORD 

1. John Bradley, eldest son of Francis and Ruth, married Hannah Shervi'ood ; and died 
in 1703, leaving his wife (who afterwards married Cornehus Jones of Stamford), and the following 
children : i. John, born about 1693 ; 2 Abigail, 1695 ; 3 Elizabeth, 1697 ; 4, Ruth, 1699 ; 
^Joseph, 1701 ; 6 Hannah, 1703. Of these, i John, married Martha Darling and died 1773, 
upwards of 80. Whether he had children is not known. %, Joseph, married Olive Hubbell June 
20, 1724, dau. of Samuel Hubbell, Jr. and died March l, 1770. His children were, I Thaddeus, 
b. 1727 ; 2 Onesimus, 1730; 3. Eunice, 1733 ; 4. Ruth, 1735 ; 5 Martha, 1737 ; 6 Nathan, 1740; 
7 Isaac, 1743 ; 8 Joseph, 1746 ; 9 Benjamin, 1749. Thaddeus and Isaac died young. Onesimus 
removed to Western New York. Joseph m. Martha Bates & removed to Albany County N. Y. 
1791, and had three sons, Isaac, Joseph & Daniel. The last Joseph m. Mary Wheeler & had 'a 
son Philo, father of Hon. Joseph P. Bradley, a justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. 
Isaac and Daniel removed to Onondaga County, N. Y. about 1800, and lived to great age. 

II. Francis Bradley, second son of Francis and Ruth, married Sarah Jackson ; and died 
Dec, 1 716, leaving his wife and the following children : i Francis, b. 1699 ; 2 Samuel, 1701 ; 
3 Ephraim, 1703 ;. 4 John, Jr., 1705 ; 5 Eleanor, 170S ; 6 Peter, 1710 ; 7 Gershom, 1712. 

Of these, i, Francis m. Mary Sturgis dau. of John Sturgis, 1719, and had ten children, Mary, 
born 1719 ; Elizabeth, 1721 ; Ebenezer, 1723 ; Eleanor, 1725 ; Francis, 1728 ; Elnathan, 1730 ; 
Jane, 1733; Hesther, 1735 ; Abigail and Nehemiah (twins) 1737. 

2. Saniziel married Sarah Whelpley, 1724, & died 1772. He had the following children : 
Sarah, born 1726; Mabel, 1729; Samuel, 1734; Hezekiah, 1735; Huldah, 1741. The last 
Samuel married Sarah Wakeman, 1751, & had Zalmon, born 1752 ; Samuel, 1756 ; Walter, 1764 ; 
and several daughters. Hezekiah m. Abigail Sherwood, 1756, & had Hezekiah Jr. 1757 ; 
Medad, 1761 ; Aaron Burr, 1764 ; & daughters. 

4. John Bradley Jj-. m. Sarah Gilbert, 1725, and had Hannah, born 1726; Lois, 1729; 
John, 1731 ; Reuben, 1733 ; Seth, 1735 ; Miriam, 1737 ; Enos, 1739 ! Lockwood, 1742 ; Ephraim, 
1744; Moses, 1746; Abel, 1750. Of these, Seth Bradley, esquire, resided in Greenfield, where 
he died in 1798. Amongst other sons he (Seth) had Hull, born 1770, and Alton, b. 1778. Hull 
Bradley, esquire, resided in Greenfield and died there in 1850. Alton removed to Roxbury, Litch- 
field Co. Conn, and died 1838. Eli N. Bradley and other sons & descendants of Alton, reside in 
Roxbury, others in Chatham, New-York, William in Brooklyn, & Frederick (now deceased) 
removed to New Haven. 

5. Eleanor married Benjamin .Sherwood of Greenfield. 

6. Peter Bradley m. Damaris Demon, 1735, and had Hannah, 1736; Grace, 1738; Gris- 
well, 1739 ; Aaron, 1741 ; Ruami, 1743 ; Jane, 1745 ; Damaris, 1746 ; Peter, 1748 ; William, 
1750. 

7. Ge7-shom Bradley m. i Sarah Sherwood, 2nd Elizabeth Osborn, 3rd Jane Dimon, 4th 
Elizabeth Burr. By Elizabeth Osborn he had Sarah, b. 1739 \ by Jane Dimon, Gershom b. 1742 ; 



GENEALOGIES 357 

Sarah, 1745 ; Cershom ; Jane, 1747 ; Jonathan, 1749; Dimon, 1752 ; Andrew, 1754; by 

Elizabeth Burr, Deborah b. 1757 ; Molly Burr, 1766 ; Gershom, 1768. 

III. Daniel Bradley, third son of Francis and Ruth, married Abigail, daughter of Joseph 
Jackson, and died 1714. He had children ; i Daniel, bap. 1699, who died young; 2 Mary, 1701, 
also died young ; 3 Martha, 1702 ; 4 Daniel Jr. 1704 ; 5 Abigail, 1706 ; 6 Eunice, 1708 ; 7 Mary, 
1710; 8 James, 1712. Daniel Jr., called Captain Daniel, m. Esther Burr, 1724, ami had Abigail, 
horn 1725 ; Jabez, 1727 ; Daniel, 1729 ; Esther, 1733 ; Stephen, 1734 ; Philip Burr, 1738 ; Elizabeth, 
1741. By a second wife, Mary Fitch, he had Ruhamah, born 1745. By a third wife, Sarah Bradley, 
he had Eunice, b. 1752. In 1759, Capt. Daniel Bradley, with his family, removed to Ridgefield, 
Fairfield Co. where he died April 23rd 1765. His son, Philip Burr Bradley, graduated at Yale Col- 
lege in 1758, was Colonel in the Revolutionary army, the first marshal of the United States for 
Connecticut, and a prominent man of that State. He died in 1821. By his first wife, Mary Bost- 
wick, he had two cliildren. Mary, born 1766, and Jabez, 176S ; by his second wife, Ruth Smith, 
daughter of Samuel Smith Esq. of Ridgefield, he had Philip, b. 1770 ; Ruth, 1771 ; Esther, 1773 ; 
Betsey, 1775; Sally, 1780; Jesse Smith, 1782. The youngest of these, Jesse Smith Bradley, 
graduated at Yale College in iSoo, studied law at Litchfield, was several times elected to the leg- 
islature from Ridgefield, and judge of Fairfield Co. He died in 1833. He had several sons born 
from 1809 to 1818, viz : Philip Burr, Jesse Smith, Francis, \Villiam Henry, and Amos Baker. 
Of these, Philip Burr resides in Andrew Jackson Co., Iowa; Francis in Chicago ; and William 
Henry in Chicago, for many years Clerk of the U. S. Court. 

Javies Bradley, younger brother of Capt. Daniel, removed to Ridgefield in 1750. By his wife, 
Sarah Bennett, he had ten children, Samuel, Abigail, James, Ezekiel, Widden, Abiah, Howard, 
Sally, Polly & Lewis. He died at Ridgefield in 1784. and all his family, except two married 
daughters, afterwards removed to Saratoga County, N. Y. Howard removed from thence to 
Michigan, in 1834, where his family still reside. 

IV. Joseph Bradley, fourth son of Francis and Ruth, m. Eleanor , and died October, 

1714. He had children : i. Sarah, bap. Feb. 3 1706 ; 2. Deborah, bap. same day ; 3. Mary, bap. 
May 12, 1706 : 4 David, 1708 ; 5 Joseph Jr. Ap 8, 1711 ; 6, Nathan, Oct. 18, 1713. Of these, 4. 
David xa.. Damaris Davis, 1731, and had, Eunice, 1732 ; Justus, 1734 ; Ellen, 1736 ; Olive, 1738 ; 
David, 1740 ; Damaris, 1742 ; Justus, 1745 ; Nathan, 1748 ; Mary, 1750 ; Bettie, 1753 ; Peter, 
1756. 5. Joseph Jr. m. isl Jerusha Turney, 1732, and had Mary, 1733 ; Increase, 1736 ; Jerusha, 
1739, -Elisha, 1745. He m. 2nd Mary Squire, 1747, and had, Ann, 1748 ; Naomi, 1749 ; Ruth, 
1751 ; Mabel, 1753 ; Sarah, 1754 ; Mary, 1757 ; Joseph, 1759 ; Charity, 1765. Of these last, 
Elisha m. Eunice Banks, 1770, and had Jesse, 1771 ; Eli, 1772 ; Eunice, 1775 ; Sarah, 1777 ; 
Increase, 1780; Betsey, 1784 ; Susanna, 17&6. Jesse -wsls the father of Mr. Henry Bradley, who 
died at Greenfield, July 24, 1883, aged 76. Joseph, son of Joseph Jr. and Mary Squire, m. Rachel 
Burr, and was the father of the late Burr Bradley of Greenfield, and his sisters Grizzel and Mary, 
now deceased. They all lived in the old mansion, which is now occupied by Lloj'd N. Sherwood, 
who married Burr Bradley's daughter. 

V. There was a Samuel Bradley residing at Fairfield at the beginning of last century, not 
descended from Francis Bradley. He and his wife, Phebe, became members of the Fairfield 
Church May 25, 1712, and had two daughters, Deborah and Anna, baptized at the same time, and 
afterwards, a son, Samuel, bap. Nov. 1713 ; Benjamin, bap. March, 1716, and Phebe, bap. 
March, 1718. This Samuel Bradley probably came from New Haven. Joseph Bradley, eldest 
son of William Bradley of New Haven, had a son Samuel born Jan. 3rd, l68r, who was probably 
the person referred to. He appears to have been on intimate terms with the family of Francis 
Bradley, since in 1714-^. he was appointed guardian of some of the children, both of John and 
Joseph Bradley. No further notice of his descendants is found on the records. 

Contributed by Justice Joseph P. Bradley of the 

Supreme Court of the United States. 



358 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD 

BULKLEY 

The family of BucKLOGH, BuLCLOG or Bulkley, is descended from Lord Bulklogh of Bulk- 
logh, and derive their name from a chain of mountains in Ireland. They date as far back as the 
reign of King John of England in the 12, century.* The family coat of arms, found in the house 
of Rev. Gershom Bulkley D.D. of Weathersfield, Conn., who was a son of the Rev. Peter 
Bulkley of Concord, Mass., is thus described : Argent a chevron between three bulls heads cabossed — 
sable. The motto under it is, " N'ec temere nee timide ; " neither rashly nor timidly." This shield 
with that of Chetwood (the second wife of the Rev. Peter Bulkley) " impaling Chetwode quarterly, 
argent & gules, four crosses pattie counterchanged, is quite handsome. "f 

The Rev. Peter Bulkley, s. of the Rev. Edward Bulkley, D.D., of the parish of Odell, 
Berfordshire, England, was bom Jan 31, 1583, & m. i. Jane daughter of Sir Thomas Allen, & by 
her had twelve children. His second wife was Grace, d. of Sir Richard Chetwode, by whom he 
had several other children. He came to Massachusetts in 1635, & soon after was regularly 
installed teacher of the first church of Concord, Mass. (with the Rev. John Jones as pastor), where 
he died March g, 1659, aged 76. 

Three of the sons of Rev. Peter Bulkley, viz : Thomas, Daniel & Peter settled at Fairfield, & 
from them descended the Bulkleys of the town and county of Fairfield. 

Daniel s. of the Rev. Peter Bulkley, probably a bachelor was granted a home-lot by the 
town, next n. w. of his brother Thomas', in the Newton Square ; & died soon after he came to F., 
leaving his estate to his brother Thomas. 

Thomas i. son of the Rev. Peter Bulkley m. Sarah d. of the Rev. John Jones. He, with his 
wife and family, were of the company who moved from Concord to F. in 1644, where soon aftei 
he was granted a home-lot in the Newton Square s. w. of his brother Daniel's He died in 1658, 
leaving wife Sarah, who afterwards m. Anthony Wilson of F. Mrs. Wilson in her will dat. 15, 
Feb. 1680/81 mentions d. Sarah, wife of Eleazer Browne of New Haven : Rebecca wife of Joseph 
Whelpley of Fairfield ; d. Hannah, & sons John & Joseph Bulkley. To her sons, she left her 
home-lot, (" or two home-lots as it sometimes was,") being about 4 acres on Concord St, opposite 
the Meeting-house Green, "viz: John the s. e. side, the whole depth of the lot, a rod in breadth 
more than Joseph's. Joseph to have the other part, & ye dwelling house & barn, & either of them 
to have such part of ye orchard as falls within their dividend ; & to her sons she willed all other 
lands belonging to her. To John she willed a silver beaker, a silver spoon, a chair which was her 
father's, & books. To her son Joseph a silver spoon, an iron back, a carved chest & three 
books ; to her d. Hannah £20, & £20. more in a codicil of the same date. To her d. Sarah 
Brown, she gave Graham's Works 3 vols. Walker's God's Providence, & a view of False Christian- 
ity. To d. Rebecca Whelpley Goodwin's Child of Light, & Mason's Care of Cares. To d. Han- 
nah, Skudder's Daily Walk ; Bane's Help to True Happiness ; England's Elizabeth, & a silver 
porringer & small spoon. To sister Elizabeth Hill, Elbone's Complaint of a Sinner Answered. To 
s. Rev. Peter Bulkley, " The Covenant," Preston's Saint's Portion, Baine's Counter Bane. She 
divided her household furniture equally among her three daughters, leaving her son John her sole 
executor. 

John i. s. of Thomas Bulkley i. m. Sarah d. of Joseph Whelpley. Their children were 
Sarah ; Esther who m. John Hill ; Hannah m. cousin Peter Buckley ; Elizabeth bapt. 26 Aug. 1694, 
& m. Nathaniel Whitehead of Elizabethtown N. J. ; Olive bapt. 31 Aug. 1696, & m. James Beers. 
John Buckley i. died about 1707. 

Joseph i., s. of Thomas Buckley i. m. first Elizabeth d. of John Knowles of F. & second, 
Martha d. of James Beers, & had Thomas, Daniel, John ; Joseph b. 9 May 1682 ; Peter b. 21. May 
1684 ; Sarah bapt. 23 Sept. 1694 & m. Joshua Jennings 2. ; Gershom 13 Sept. 1696 ; & John 22. 
March 1701". Joseph Buckley i. died intestate about 1720. 

* Shattuck's Hist. Concord p. 157. t Elements of Heraldry, by William A. Whitmore pp. 57. sS- 



GENEALOGIES 359 

JosEFH 2., s. of Joseph Buckley i. m. Esther d. of Josepli Hill. Their children were Joseph 
bapt. g. March 1711^'-; Esther 20. Dec. 1713 ; Nathan 19. Jan 1717J-'', (who was the Town 
Recorder, & who occupied his father's homestead at the time F. was burned in 1779) ; J-oseph 22. 
Nov. 1719 ; Samuel 6. March 1725*^ ; Sarah 23. Feb. 1728^ ; Ebenezer 5. Dec 1731. 

Daniel s. of Joseph Buckley i. m. d. of . Their children were Daniel b. 15 June 

1718 ; Jabez 28. Feb 1719^'^ ; Martha 2. July 1721 ; Nehimiah 15 Nov. 1724; Jabez 16 March 
1729. 

Dr. Peter, the youngest s. of the Rev. Peter Buckley did not settle at F. until some time after 
his brothers. He probably m. Margaret Foxcroft of Boston, as in a record in A. of T. D. he sold to 
the heirs of Francis P'oxcroft all interest he and his wife had in said Foxcroft's house in Boston, 
for go£. Francis Foxcroft is said to have been a s. of Daniel Foxcroft, mayor of Leeds, in Co. 
York, & his second wife was Eliza d. of Gov. Danford. Dr. Peter Buckley was an apothecary 
as well as a physician in F. He left but a small estate. His will is dated 25. March 1691, in 
which he calls himself " in the 49. year of his age," mentions s. Peter (b. 1683) then seven, & a 
quarter years old, who upon arriving at a suitable age, he willed should be bound to James Bcnnet 
jr. until of age, to be taught "the art of weaving both linen & woolen, to ye best of his capac- 
ity." He mentions d's Grace, Margaret & Hannah Sherman. His brother Rev. Dr. Gershom 
Buckley of Weathersfield, mentions two other children of Dr. Peter Buckley's viz : Gershom & 
Dorothy. \.'^" '^ )^' 

Gershom s. of Dr. Peter Buckley i. of F. m. ■* d. of . Their children were Eunice 

bapt. 4. Jan. 1701- ; Rachel 23, March 1706- ; Gershom 27 March 1709 ; Grace 27. May 171 1 ; 
Hezekiah 29. Nov 1713 ; Peter 5. Feb. 1715— ; Jonathan iS. May 171S ; Grace 12. Feb. 1720?-; 
Talcott 23. Aug. 1724. 

Peter 2. s. of Dr. Peter Buckley i. of F. m. Hannah d. of John Buckley i. Their children 
were David & Peter jr bapt. 9 March 171 1^^ ; Sarah 14. Dec 1712 : Sarah 29. Nov 1713 ; Peter 9. 

Oct 171 5 ; Andrew 6. Oct. 1717 ; Gershom 13. Aug. 1721 ; Jabez 4. Oct 1723 ; Olive July 

1725 ; Hannah 16. Oct 1726 ; Moses 9. July 1727 ; Abigail 13. April 1729 ; James 3. Aug 1729 ; 
Mary 17. Oct 1731 ; Jonathan 24. Sept. 1732. T. P. Rec. 

I BURR 

BURRE or Burr — Jehue Burre probably came in the fleet with Gov. Winthrop to New Eng- 
land. On the 19. Oct. 1630 he applied to the Gen. Court of Mass. for the rights of a freeman, & 
was admitted 18. May 1631. In 1633 he was one of a committee to over-see building a bridge 
over Muddy & Stony river, between Boston & Roxbury. His name & that of a wife is mentioned 
in 1635, as among the church members of Roxbury, Mass. He was one of the pioneers of Spring- 
field or Agawam, who with Wni. Pynchon, Wm. Smith & six other young men " of good spirits & 
sound bodies^" founded that town in 16^ On the g, of Feb. 1637, he was appointed by the Gen. 
Court of Conn, to collect taxes at Agawam, (which at that time was under the jurisdiction of 
Connecticut), to assist in defraying the expenses of the Pequot war. Savage says he removed to 
Fairfield in 1640, &represented the town in 1G41. He was granted a home-lot from the town s. w. 
of the Meeting-house Green & the pond, afterwards called Edward's Pond, the rear of which 
adjoined the home-lot of the Rev. John Jones. He was a deputy to the Gen. Court in September 
of 1645, & also in 1646. It is difficult to state when he died ; some writers say about 1650, while 
others place his death at a later date. The probability is, that he is the same Mr. Jehue Burre 
who appealed a jury verdict given in Stratford in 165 1, to the Gen. Court at Hartford the same 
year ; was a grand juror in 1660, a commissioner of the United Colonies in 1664 ; & died before 
1670. He left four sons Jehu, John, Daniel & Nathaniel, & probably other children. No men- 
tion is made who his wife was, or of her death. 

In a record of Sergt. Nehemiah Olmstead's lands, who died before 1671, is mentioned the 



360 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD 

fact, that said Olmstead " before he died, did purchase land of his brother-in-law Jehue Burre.* 
It is possible that Jehue Burre Sr. may have married an older sister of said Olmstead ; but the 
probability is that Olmstead, who, at the time of his father's death in 1640, was a minor ; & came 
to Fairfield in or before 1650, married Elizabeth daughter of the above Jehue Burre Sr. John 
Cable Sr. who died in 16S2, in his will mentions his kinsman Jehu & John Burr, who were no 
doubt cousins. The wife of Jehue Burre Sr. therefore may have been a sister of John Cable. 

Jehu Burr 2nd probably born in England, ist m. Mary d. of Andrew Ward, by whom he 
had several children ; & 2d m. Esther widow of Joseph Boosy of Westchester, by whom he had 
other children. He became one of the most influential men in the town & colony ; was a Capt. in 
Philip's war, a commissioner of the United Colonies, & held offices of the highest trust & power. 
He died in 1692. He lived in the family homestead, having in 1671 pur. his brother John's inter- 
est in the house & home-lot of their father. In 1673, he pur. the next lot west of this. In his 
will dated 7, Jan. 1689, he mentions wife Esther, for whom he amply provides, gives to s. Daniel 
II acres at the rocks & a long lot pur. of Rev. John Jones ; to ss. Peter & Samuel his land & 
housing, Peter to pay Samuel 50;^ in provision pay when of age ; divides all commonage equally 
between ss. Daniel, Peter & Samuel ; mentions d. Esther having rec. her portion, other ds. Eliza- 
beth, Sarah, Joanna & Abigail minors to rec. their portion at 18 years of age, & to his grand- 
daughter, only child of his deceased d. Mary 20;^. as her mother's dower, to be held in trust by 
her father Capt. Samuel Wakeman, until she became of age. 

Peter Burr s. of Jehu 2. graduated at Harvard College in 1690, taught school a few years, 
& became a noted Judge of the Supreme Court. He is called in the parish records the " Wor- 
shipful Mr. Peter Burr." He m. in Boston & a 2d wife in F. the widow of Jonathan Sturges 

& d. in 1724 or 5. His children were Thaddeus bapt. 8, Sept. 1700 ; Abigail 25, Oct, 1702 ; 
Gershom 6, May 1705 ; Sarah 14. Dec 1707, & Eunice 2. July 1710. His wid. m. the Hon. 
Jonathan Laws, of Milford, Conn. 

John Burr s. of Jehue i. probably born in England, was made a freeman of Conn. Oct 1664, 
& became a prominent man, & died in 1694. He lived on the s. w. side of the street opposite 
Henry Rowland's house f on the Frost Square. His will is dated 19. March 1694, in which he 
mentions w. Sarah (d. of his father-in-law Fitch, but gives no clue to said Fitche's christian name, 
or residence.) whom he left "a suitable & honorable maintenance " & " the use of his silver bowl," 
during her life, or while she remained his widow. To his son John Burr he left his house & barn, 
formerly Stricklands & Pinckney's, & 3 & f acres " next adjoining, near the Old field gate " ; 10 
acres in the home-meadow ; swamp & reeds at the beach ; Paul's neck div. ; front of Mill-hill div. ; 
lot near Applegate's ; 12 acres on Sascoe-hill ; ^ long-lot after David had received 80 acres on the 
front of said long-lot, he allowing a suitable highway of 2 rods through said land ; & i his Per- 
petual Common. To s. Samuel Burr, the farm in the woods granted him by the General Court. 
& 40 £. for his education, to be taken out of the whole estate for a college course of four years. 
To s. Jonathan, a minor, land in the new field ; meadow in Sascoe-neck ; the middle div. of land 
on Mill-hill ; ^ of his long-lot & i of his Perpetual Common. To David, a minor, home-lot pur. 
of John Cable ; the swamp & rear div. of land at Mill-hill ; land in Sascoe-field ; the remainder of 
his long-lot ; 2"^ div. at Compo, & { of all commons. To his ds. Mary & Deborah minors, 100 ;[f. 
at the age of 18 or marriage. Mentions d. Sarah having received her portion. The date of his 

children's births were, John b. 2. May 1673, (Sarah 25. July 1675), David , Joseph b. 21. June 

1677. Samuel 2. April 1679. Jonathan . Ebenezer 7. Feb. 1681. Mary ig. Aug. 1683, -f 

Deborah. Sarah m. 29. June 1692 Rev. Charles Chauncey of Fairfield Village. Samuel grad- 
uated at Harvard College in 1697, & was master of the Grammar School in Charlestown, Mass., 
about twelve years. He died 7. Aug 1719, & his tomb-stone is in the old Fairfield Burial Hill 
Cemetery. 

* A. Town Deeds p. 243. ■* At the present date, 1888, occupied by Wallace Bulkley. 



GENEALOGIES 361 

Nathanif.l Burr s. of Jehue i. was made a freeman in 1664, & first m. Sarah d. of Andrew 
"Ward, by whom he had Sarah & Nathaniel. He pur. 12. Feb. 1659, the home-lot house &c., on 
the Ludlow Square of Richard Lyon, bounded n. e. by his brother Daniel Burr, who on the 15. 
March 1668" pur. Andrew Ward's house & home-lot, bounded n. e. by Major Nathan Gold s 
homestead. This place on the Ludlow Square remained in the Burr family until after the Revo- 
lution. His second wife was Ann d. of Dr. James Laborie. He died 22. Feb. 1712. His will 
is dated 22. Nov. 171 1, in which he mentions wife Ann ; ss. John & Daniel, ds. Abigail wife of 
John Wheeler m. 22. March 1693 ; Esther w. of John Sloss a merchant ; Ann w. of Gideon Allen 
m. 20. Jan. 1696 ; Rebecca w. of Capt. Samuel Sherwood m. 30. Nov. 1704; d. Mary \v. of Dr. 
James Laborie ; & the four grandchildren of his dec. s. Nathaniel. His son Col. John Burr settled 
in Pequannock & owned a farm on the turnpike n. w. of the New York, Hartford & New Haven 
R.R., inclosing the grand, old oak tree, which is said to have been the council canopy of the 
English & Indians in the sale of Indian lands. Alas ! this tree fell in a severe storm in 1884, all 
its boughs having died long before ; but each spring until it fell, it put forth around its trunk twigs 

& green leaves. "^ //_^ .'r-f. : jU-' >' \- ^ AJj '"^^ '^tb^" 

The children of John & Esther Sloss were Aane bapt. 6. June 1703 ; Sarah 14. March 1767-; 
Ellen I. Oct. 1710; Deborah 22. March 1712— . Mrs. Esther Sloss renewed covenant at F. 6. 
June 1703. 

D.\.NIEL s. OF Jehue i. a merchant in Fairfield, was made a freeman in 1668. & soon after 
m. Abigail d. of Henry Glover of New Haven, by whom he had Daniel b. 30 July 1670, Abigail 
4. March 1671^, Ellen 26. Oct 1680, (Town Records) & probably others. Both he & his wife were 
living in 1692 when on the 16. Sept. he made over to the trustees of his father-in-law's estate, 
certain lands in Fairfield for the use of 30 £. in silver money, left in trust to his wife Abigail by 

her father. She must have died soon after. Flis 2. wife was Eleanor d. of by whom he 

probably had Seth & Samuel b. ig Aug. 1694, & called in Fairfield Parish Records, sons of Mr. 
Daniel Burr sr. His wife Eleanor presented an inventory of his estate 1695, showing that he had 
died about that time. 

Daniel s. of Jehu Burr 2. lived at Greenfield, Aspetuck River, & was called Daniel Burr 
of Upper Meadow. He was given by his father 19. Dec 16S7, twelve acres of land at the Upper 
Meadow, with a house & barn thereon, on the east side of the Mill-river. His first wife was 
Hannah d of John Banks i. by whom he had s. Daniel, mentioned in his grandfather John Banks' 
will, dat. 12. Jan 1684- ; & d. Hannah. His second wife was Mary Sherwood, by whom he had 

s. Jehu & d. Mary (Greenfield Parish Records). His third wife w-as Elizabeth d. of , by 

whom he had Elizabeth bapt. 20. Sept. 1696 ; Stephen 3. Oct. 1697 ; Peter 23. July i6gg ; Jane 
27. April 1701 ; Esther 31. Jan 1702-; Nathaniel i. June 1707 ; David i. Jan 1709— ; Moses 28. 
March 17 14, & Aaron 4. March 1715— . (Fairfield Parish Records.) In his will dated i. Jan 
1719-- he mentions w. Elizabeth, his oldest s. Jehu, ss. Stephen, Peter, David, Moses & Aaron. 

The three latter were minors, & his ds. Hannah, & Mary w. of Wheeler ; Elizabeth w. of 

Hull ; Jane & Esther. In the inventory of his estate dated 14. July 1727, Jane is called the 

wife of Sherwood. His estate was large, his eldest son receiving over 1,000 £. & each of his 

other children 545 £. Moses Burr graduated at Yale College in 1734. 

Rev. Aaron Burr S. of Daniel of Upper Meadow b. at Greenfield 4. Jan 1716, & bapt. in F. 
C. 4, March following ; graduated at Yale College 1735 ; & entered into full Communion with the 
G. H. C. C. Aug 3, the same year. He studied for the ministry, was a man of distinguished 
ability, & was first settled in Newark N. J., where he taught a flourishing school, until called to be 
the President of Princeton College. He d. Sept. 24. 1757. aged 42. Upon settling at Newark he 
sold the homestead at Upper Meadow to two cousins, each named Joseph Bradley 3. April 1738, 
one of whom was the great grand father of Justice Joseph P. Bradley of the U. S. Supreme Court. 
He m. Esther d. of Rev. Jonathan Edwards of New Haven, by whom he had two children 



362 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD 

Sarah & Aaron. Sarah m. the Honorable Tappan Reeves of Litchfield, & had but one child 
named Aaron Burr Reeves, who d. "says Hinman, at Troy N. Y., & left no issue now living." 
The son Col. Aaron Burr became the distinguished politician, & a leading spirit in the political 
changes of the country in 1800, at which time he was chosen the third Vice President of the United 
States. He m. Mrs. Provost, the wid. of a British officer 2 July 17S2. and had one only child, 
named Theodosia b. in 1783 a beautiful and accomplished daughter who married the Hon. Joseph 
Alston of S. C. On her way from the South to visit her father in 1812 she was drowned at sea, & 
by many believed to have been murdered by pirates, a fate her father was never willing to credit. 

CABELL 

John Cabell i. was in Mass. in 1631, & was one of the petitioners to the Gen. Ct. in 1635 for 
liberty to remove to the Connecticut River. Hinman says he was in Springfield in 1636 (See 
Sprague), & probably accompanied, or soon followed the Burrs to F. In 1652 he assisted in 
capturing a Dutch vessel off the coast of F., & was awarded s£ by the Gen. Ct. of Conn. 
He was a seaman, & perhaps a sea captain. He was made a freeman in 1669. In his will of 4 
April 1682 he mentions his grand-son John Cabell ; grandson John Knowles ; m'. Ann who was 
his second wife, ik widow of Roger Betts of Bradford, Ct. He appointed his kinsman Jehue & 
John Burr over-seers of his estate. — F. Prob. Rec. 

Hinman thinks his s. John Cable, was of Hartford where he died 8. Dec. 1708. aged 58 years; 
& where he found that " he was born in the City of Stugand or Stuttgart, in high Germany on the 
Rhine." He was in F. for a time, where he was made a freeman 10. Oct. 1669. There is a 
tradition in the Burr family, that Jehue Burr was of German descent ; & the above statement may 
give some clue to their birth-place, which has as yet never been discovered. Savage's says he died 
at F. in 1673, & could not have been the John of Hartford. May they not have been brothers as in 
the case of the two Samuel Hubbells & Thomas Wheeler ? His d. Sarah Cable m. Robert Churchill 
of F., & his widow m. Thomas Sherwood. 

John Cable 2. wife Abigail & children George, Jonathan, John, Andrew, Daniel, Isaac, Mary 
wife of Patchin, & Abigail. 

John Cable 3. m. Anne Laborie, d. of Dr. James Laborie 2. of Stratford. His children were 
probably bapt. in the Episcopal Church, but part of their children are recorded in the G. H. Par. 
Rec; bapt. as adults, & were Elizabeth bapt. 23. Nov. 1746 ; & Anna 19. Dec. 1750. 

Daniel Cable, probably s. of John 3. m. d. of Their children were Hezekiah 

bapt. 1744; Daniel 13. July 1746 ; & Sarah 23, April 1749. G. H. Par. Rec. Some of the 

Cables lived at Green's Farms. 

THE COLEY FAMILY 

The name of Samuel Coole appears in the list of those who took the oath of a freeman in the 
Massachusetts Bay Colony, on the 18. of May 1631. [See Mass. Col. Rec. Vol. 1. p. 366]. The 
name is sometimes spelled Cooley, Coley, & Coly. 

The name of Samuel Coley is found among the first settlers of Milford, where he was made 
a freeman Nov. 20, 1639. He joined the church in 1640. He married Ann, d. of James Pruden 
of Milford. Their children were, Peter, bapt. 1641, Abilene, 1643, Samuel 1646, Sarah 164S, Mary 
165 1, Hannah 1654 & Thomas 1657. Samuel Coley died Oct 3, 1684. His will dated 1678, &that 
of his widow dated 1689, mentions the same seven children. Abilene married Japhet Chapin ; 
Sarah m. a Baldwin ; Mary m. i. Peter Simson, & 2. John Stream. Hannah m. Joseph Garnsey ; 
Thomas m. Martha d. of John Stream (Savage). Samuel m. Mary Carles Oct 21. 1669. The name 
is spelled in the Milford records Coley & Coly. Coley has 3 coats of Arms ; Coley or Collay i ; 
Cooley I ; Collay or CoUey I ; Colle i ; Colle or Coulee i ; Collie, Colley or Cooling i ; Cooley i. 
[Hinman's Cat'l.] 



GENEALOGIES 363 

Peter Coley i. s. of the above Samuel i. was bapt. at Milford in 1641 & settled at F., where he 
was made a freeman Oct 31. 1664. His name also appears in the list of freemen from F. in 1669. 
He m. Sarah d. of Humphrey Hide, by whom he had Samuel, Sarah, Peter & Mary, (See will of 
Humphrey Hide), to whom sd. Humphrey left " one half of his home-lot in the rear next the rocks." 
In the settlement of the estate of Simon Couch i. of Bankside, who died in 1689, Peter Coley acknow- 
ledges the receipt of fifty pounds, being the legacy left to his " now wife, Hannah" (meaning his 
present wife) the daughter of Simon Couch sr. who was a minor when her father died. [Fairfield 
Town Records Book 2. p. 80.] By his second wife, he had Elizabeth & Hannah, & perhaps others. 
He died at Fairfield in 1690. In the inventory of his estate, Savage calls Sarah 22 years of age ; 
Ann 16; Mary 13; Elizabeth 8, Hannah 6 & Peter, whose years are not told. The order in 
which Humphrey Hide mentions them in his will, is probably the correct one. 

It is not singular that the name of Samuel does not appear in his father's will, as it frequently 
happened in those days, that the oldest son received his portion when he came of age. Peter, the 
second son, who is mentioned in his grandfather Humphrey Hide's will before his sister Mary, 
must have been about fifteen years of age when sd Humphrey Hide died. 

The name of Peter Coley first appears on the town records Aug 6. 1662, at which date at a 
town meeting it was voted : " that a strip of land, adjoining Humphrey Hide's land, should be 
granted to Peter Coley to build a shop upon, to be 14 ft. one way & 18 ft. the other way." On the 
15. of Dec. 1665 it was voted : " that Peter Coley be chosen to seal ye waits & measures of the 
town ; also to be sworn packer of meats for the town." This was a high office of trust in those 
days, & equal to the position of a bank president. The seal of the town & his signature being 
required upon each weight & measure, & upon all barrels of packed meat & pork, before they 
passed into the general market, as the legal tender of the town of F. On the 15. of March i663 
Peter Coley was granted " a rod of land in front of Humphrey Hide's home-lot, to build a shop on." 
In 1669 he was granted one home-lot, of three acres more or less. He was one of the land dividend 
holders of the town, & owned one of 'the long-lots. 

Samuel Coley, 2 s. of the above Peter Coley i. & Sarah Hide, was born at Fairfield about the 

year 1665 or 1666. He m. Esther . Their children were bapt. at F. as follows : Daniel bapt. 

2. Sept. 1695 ; Jeremiah & Abigail 2. Jan 1695/* ; Esther 15. Aug. 1703. His second wife was Mary 

who was bapt. 28. Nov. 1703. Their children were Samuel & Mary bapt. 5. Dec. 1703 ; John 

17 March, 1705/6 & Annie i. Aug. 1709. F. P. R. 

Peter 2. s. of Peter Coley i. was b. 12. June 1671 ; Ann 13. Jan. 1673 ; Mercey 23 April, 1677 ; 
Elizabeth i. Dec. 1680. F. T. Rec. 

Peter Coley 3. s. of Peter 2. m. Hannah Couch of Bankside. Their children were : Han- 
nah bapt. 4. Aug. 1700 ; Peter 30. Aug. 1702 ; Simon 30. Jan. 1704 ; Elizabeth 24. March 1706 ; 
Andrew 25. July 1708 ; Ebenezer 8. Oct. 1710 ; who introduces his father's name in the church 
Rec. as Sergt. Peter Coley; Ebenezer 4. March 1712 ; David 13. March 1715 ; Jonathan 30. Jan. 
1717 ; Mary 18. Jan. 1721. F. Par. Rec, 

The name of William Cooley appears in the Mass. Col. Rec. as early as March 1634. The 
same name is found in New London in 1664, at which time he applies for admission to that town 
(Hinman.) He was at Southold L. I. 1663. with Robt. Bartlet & George Tongue, trading of! their 
" ineons & wampum for Rum." (Caulkin.) Again the name of William Cooley appears in the F. 
Church Rec, where he renewed Covenant June 2. 1695. 

COUCH 

"One of the most fertile roots of nomenclature was the simple road-side cross. The latter 

old English form, is still found lingering in our crutched or crouched Friars. Langland describes 

a pilgrim as having many a crouche on his cloake : i. e. many a mark of the cross embroidered 

thereon. A dweller by these way-side crucifixes, would easily get the soubriquet therefrom, & 



364 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD 

thus we find atte Crouch to be of early occurrence." (Bardsley's English Surnames). A traveler 
abroad frequently meets with the way-side crucifix, before which the passer-by kneels in silent 
prayer to the living Christ in Heaven. It was often the case that these crucifixes were raised on 
the border of a spring of water, so that the passer-by could refresh himself with a cup of cold 
water. It was from living near one of these road-side crosses, that the Crouch, or Couch family 
derived their names. 

Simon Crouch, or Couch i. was made a freeman of F. 13. Oct 1664. He was no doubt 
closely related to Thomas Couch of Weathersfield, & to Samuel Couch of Milford. He may have 
been one of the traditional three brothers. He m. Mary d. of Francis Andrews of Bankside. He 
with John Andrews purchased of the heirs of his father-in-law, most of their interest in their 
father's estate. He purchased of his mother-in-law Anna Andrews 6. March 1663, all her interest 
in the housing & lands of her deceased husband. His home-lot of nine acres was bounded on 
the east with Jolm Green's home-lot ; n. John Andrews ; vv. commons, & s. w. high-way. He 
became a large land-holder in Green's Farms ; & for several years he with John Andrews carried 
on a law-suit against the town of F. to recover lands, claimed by right of purchase from thj 
Indians, before Bankside was made a part of the town of F. He owned a part of the first long- 
lot next the Norwalk bounds. In his will of 22. Dec. 1687, which was probated in 16S9, he gave 
to his eldest s. Thomas several acres of land in Green's Farms, his short gun & cutlass, & hatter's 
tools ; to his second s. Simon his homestead, except three acres of the home-lot ; his gun called 
the " crooke " & short cutlass ; to s. Samuel several pieces of land, & the three acres reserved in 
his home-lot in the n. w. end of it ; & a gun ; to his brother's s. Thomas Couch, 40^-, & to his 
brother's d. living at John Grummans 20=-; & to Susannah Couch, living at Milford 20= The 
rest of his land he divided equally among his sons ; to his two eldest ds. Mary & Martha he gave 
50 £. each when of age, & to ds. Sarah & Hannah 50 £. at eighteen. He caused his sons to pro- 
vide a fixed & ample allowance yearly for their mother. He was buried in land belonging to him 
at Frost Point looking out upon the sound, which he had set apart as a family burial place, & 
which was long known as the Couch Burial Hill. This spot could be pointed out until within the 
last few years, but now almost every trace of the tombs & graves have been obliterated. It lay 
west of the present Phipps Green. His d. Mary m. John Grumman. Hannah m. Peter Coley, 
& Martha m. Abraham Finch. His s. Thomas sailed for England in 1689 ; & made his will of 
8. April the same year, in which he gave his mother the use of his lands during her widowhood, 
& at her death to his, brother Simon's eldest son, & if he had no son, to his brother Samuel's 
eldest son. His will was probated 2. Dec. 1691. The seal contains a small rustic cross, very 
nicely engraved upon it. The tradition in the family is, that the vessel in which he sailed for 
England, was taken by the French & his fate was never known. Mary the widow of Simon Couch 
died in 1691, & the use of the land left her by her s. Thomas, fell to the eldest son of her s. 
Samuel. 

Simon 2. s. of Simon Couch i. m. Abigail d. of John Sturgis i. He was a prominent man 
in Green's Farms, & active in its political, ecclesiastical & school interests. He continued the 
claim of his father & the other Bankside farmers to the land which the town of F. agreed 29. June 
1666 to allow them, when they consented to become a part of the township. This claim was set- 
tled by a committee appt. 6. Aug. 1705, consisting of John Curtis Esqr. of Stratford, John Haw- 
ley of Stratford, & John Read of F. for the Bankside farmers ; & to Judge Peter Burr, & Capt. 
John Wakeman for the town. On the i. of March 1706 Lieut. Joseph Wakeman & Robert Sil- 
liman " were appointed by the town to lay out to Simon & Samuel Couch the 15 acres as the claim 
awarded them by John Curtis, John Wakeman, John Read & Lieut. John Hawley. " The other 
claimants were the heirs of John Green. Daniel Frost & Thomas Newton. Some fresh trouble 
arising in regard to this claim, the final settlement was not made until the 17. Sept. 1719 He 
purchased 19. March 1696 his brother Samuel's interest in the family homestead, with other inter- 



GENEALOGIES 365 

est of said Samuel's. On the 5. of May 1703 the division line between Norwalk and Fairfield, 
having cut off several acres of his father's long-lot, the town of F. allowed him in exchange for 
his interest in sd long-lot, 28 acres on Turkey Hill. His children were Abigail b. 31. Jan. 1694 ; 
Thomas 9. June 1695 ; Simon 6. July 1697 ; Hannah 30. Aug 1699 ; Sarah 30. March 1706 ; Isa- 
bellc 17. Sept. 170S ; & Deborah 30. March 17TO. He died early in 1713. His will of 2. of 
March 1712-^, was probated the 7. of April following. In it he appointed his wife Abigail & his 
brother-in-law Jonathan Sturgis executors, but the latter refused to act, & the widow took up the 
trust. To his wife Abigail he gave i of his housing & movable estate, his negro man Jack & 
negro girl Jenne ; to s. Thomas he gave 30 £^ value in his estate, having deducted from his share 
the care he had taken of the land left him by his Uncle Thomas. The remainder of his estate at 
Green's Farms, he gave to his s. Simon with his housing &c. & to his five daughters, only Simon 
was to receive twice as much as his sisters, who were each to have equal portions. If Simon died 
before reaching the age of 21., he entailed his portion to his brother Samuel. He gave his 200 
acres of land " lying between Fairfield & Danbury, now known as Couch Hill, equally between his 
two sons. To his slave Antony he gave 30 acres at the upper end of his 200 acres, provided he 
served his mistress until of age." 

Thomas 2. s. of the above Simon Couch 2. settled at Green's Farms & m. Sarah d. of Gideon 
Allen 7. Dec. 1721. Their children were Sarah b. i. Dec 1723 ; Thomas 28. Nov. 1725 ; (F. T. 
Rec.) s. Thomas again & Simon. In his will of 6. Dec. 1735 he gave his estate to his wife Sarah 
& ds Sarah & Ann, & to his wife his slave Jenny ; to his s. Thomas his negro boy Frank, & all his 
estate lying in F., e.Kcept his bridge-hill-lot, bounded n. by Edward Jessup's home-lot ; & one half 
of his right in the commons & undivided land in F., tos. Simon his bridge-hill-lot, his farm at 
Reading, his negro boy Quass & one half of his right in the commons & undivided land. He also 
divided between his sons Thomas & Simon his land in New Fairfield. His s. Simon ra. Abigail d. 
of Joshua Jennings of Green's Farms 18. May 1721. His d. Sarah m. John Andrews 2. 28. Oct. 
1730. 

Samuel i. s. of Simon Couch i. was Capt. of militia, & was one of the richest & most influen- 
tial citizens of F. In 1696 he purchased of James Newton on Bridge Hill, 28 acres of land, & in 
1 701 he was granted by the town 26 acres at Port Royal in exchange for his share of his father's 
long-lot. He also purchased of Chicken, Sagamore of the Aspetuck Indians, a large tract of land 

lying in Reading. He m. Edera d. of . His d. Hannah m. 4. Nov. 1724 Samuel Osborn. 

He died in 1741, & as he failed to mention an executor in his will, the F. Prob. Ct appointed 
Edmund Lewis of Stratford, Thomas Nash & Christopher Godfree of Green's Farms, to divide his 
estate according to his wilL They made returns of 190;!^ to each heir to the Probate Court at F. 
21. Jan. 1741^ as follows : to Samuel Couch 21 acres on the s. end of his long-lot, on the w. side 
of the Norwalk road leading to Danbury, 140 acres on the e. side of Umpawage River, cS: 62* acres 

by Crowfoot's. To Edra w. of Frost 21 acres of the long-lot above Samuel's share, & the 

remaining half of the Umpawage lot. To Benjamin Couch 21 acres of the long lot above Edra 
Frost's & 2 acres on the n. end of the lot at Couche's farm. 62i on the n. end of the lot on the 
e. side of Couche's farm, bounded e. by the Newton line, & i^ acres by Crowfoot's. To Mary w. 
of Elijah Crane 26 acres on the n. end of the long-lot, bounded n. by the Danbury line ; 5 

acres across the s. end of the lot e. of Couche's farm on the Newton line. To Elizabeth w. of 

Todd 30 acres, one half of the e. side of a lot on the w. end of Picket's Ridge ; 69!, acres of a lot 
on the e. side of Umpawage Hill. To Solomon Couch the remaining 30 acres of Picket's 
Ridge & 64 acres on the s. side of said Picket's Ridge, bounded s. by Meeker's farm & the highway 
at the rear of F. town bounds. To Eunice w. of Ruben Taylor 53^^ acres of the bog-meadow lot, 

& 36 acres across the s. end of said lot, on the side of the n. w. lot. To Abigail w. of Hib- 

berd 12 acres across the s. end of the bog meadow lot ; & 138 acres on the lot lying off the s. end 
of Umpawage Hill, bounded w. by the Ridgefield line. In his will Samuel Couch gave his s. 



366 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD 

Solomon all his homestead lands, except lo acres with the buildings thereon &c. To his s. John 
Couch he gave lo acres of his homestead land & other lands. To Ebenezer he gave 20 acres of 
land in Reading on the e. side of the road, leading from Norwalk to Danbury, at the head line of 
F. township, & 100 acres next to the Umpawage hill. He made provisions for the completion of 
his son John's education at College. John lived at Reading a short time, & then settled at Great 
Barrington. Benjamin settled in Naugatuck. 

The Couch family have to this day been prominent men in the town & county of Fairfield. 
From Thomas Couch of Reading descended his grandson (s. of his s. Jonathan) Major General 
Darius N. Couch who bravely distinguished himself in the late War of the Rebellion, & who at 
the present time resides in Norwalk, Conn. Judge Jessup Couch of Chillicothe, Ohio was a s. of 
Simon Couch of Umpawage Hill, Reading, & was named after his uncle Thomas Couche's wife 
Elizabeth's father Edward Jessup of Green's Farm.* He graduated at Yale College in 1802. He 
began the practice of law in Ohio in 1804, & in 1815 was appointed Judge of the Supreme Court 
of that State. He was aide-de-camp in the war of 1812 to Gov. Meigs of Ohio. 

From a manuscript now in the possession of Edwin Sherwood Esq'' of Southport, Ct. the 
following tradition is found. Thomas & Simon Couch ran away from England & secreting 
themselves on board a vessel, sailed for America. They landed at New Haven, & " holding up 
a stick let it fall to direct them. Thomas went eastward & Samuel to the westward as far as Green's 
Farms."' He settled at Bridge Hill, & soon became an Inn-keeper. Thomas his son, received the 
best education the times could afford, & their father dying while Simon & Samuel were minors, 
Thomas was sent by them to England, to recover a large inheritance which had three heads to the 
family. But as at that time France & England were at war, Thomas was taken prisoner at sea, 
carried to France, & never heard from afterwards. His brother Simon settled on Bridge Hill, & 
Samuel settled on Benjamin's Hill &c. This tradition throws light at once upon Thomas Couch 

who settled at Weathersfield, where he m. Rebecca d. of 22. Nov. 1666. His children 

were Susannah b. 12. Oct 1667 ; Simon 11. Dec 1669 ; Rebecca 16. Feb. 1672 ; & others. His w. 
d. 1. March 1672. & he d. in 1687. in which year his second wife presented the inventory of his 
estate & the ages of his children, which were as follows : Hannah 13 ; Thomas 12 ; Mary 11 ; Sarah 
8 ; Abigail 6 ; & Martha 3. (Hinman's Puritan Settlers.) His s. Thomas was probably the 
nephew, which the first Simon Couch of Bankside mentions in his will ; his d. Sarah living at 
Grummans & d. Susannah living at Milford, whom he calls his cousin is niece. 

Samuel Couch, probably nearly connected with Thomas & Simon of Weathersfield & Fairfield, 
settled at Milford, & m. an Indian woman named Pity (widow of one Charles DeaH), who, having 
no relations bequeathed him by will a house in Milford of lA acres on an Island named Milford 
or Charle's Island containing about 12 acres, bounded all around by the sea. He appears to 
have m. again, as his widow Mary offered his will in June of 1693 for probate in New Haven. In 
this will he gave his estate to his w. Mary & his d. Elizabeth Couch of St. Mary Ottary, in Devon- 
shire old England ; & " if she came not to this country to Nathaniel Files, son of Capt. Samuel 
Elles of Hingham." Milford T. & Prob. Rec. This valuable will gives the birthplace of the 
Couch family. 

DENNY 

Albert Dennie, or Denny m. Elizabeth d. of the Rev. Samuel Wakeman. Their children 
were John, bapt. 7. Oct. 1694 ; Grizzel 28. Feb. 1696', who m. Rev. Daniel Chapman of Green's 
Farms ; Margaret 30. April 1696 ; Annabel 30. Nov. 1701 ; James 14. March 1702"^. F. Par. Rec. 

* Thomas s. of Thomas Couch & Elizabeth d. of Edward Jessup were m. 26. Feb. 1749/50. F. T. Rec. 

t Charles Deal was granted liberty to purchase this Island " that was Richard Bryans," with the building 
upon it provided he used it only as a tobacco house. He was not to lease or sell it without the approbation of 
the town ; " or — to any order— or sell to the Indians, English or Dutch, nor suffer disorderly persons or seamen 
on the Island."— Milford Rec. Vol. 3. p. 43. 



GENEALOGIES 367 

John i. s. of Albert Denny i. m. d. of Their children were John bapt. 4. March 

' 1716 ; Mary 11. Dec. 1717 ; Grizzel iS. Feb. 1720; Sarah 2. May 1725; William 23. Oct. 1726; 
Thomas 5. May 1728 & Thomas again 11. Oct. 1730; Abigail — April 1733. F. Par. Rec. 

DIMOND 

Thomas Demont i., Demond or Dimond settled at Pequonnock, & owned the homestead of 
James Bennet. He was a mariner, & his vessel & cargo, Savage says, was destroyed by fire. 
He was the owner of a bark of 12 tons, so say the F. T. Rec, in Oct. 1658. He died in the latter 
part of 1658, leaving a young son John, who was apprenticed to Major Gold until of age, & thus 
became a member of his family. Another brother Thomas was apprenticed to Dr. W™- Ward 
until of age. There was also a third son Moses. The name is spelled in various ways, but his 
sons spelled it Dymond Demon & Dimond. It was vulgarly pronounced Deming & Demmond. 
I find no mention of his wife. T. Rec. 

John Dymond settled at New London & m. Rebecca d. of James Bemis of that place, who 
first m. Tobias Minter of Newfoundland i. April 1672. ; second John Dymond of Fairfield 17. 
June 1674 ; & third Benedict Satterlee of Killingworth 2. Aug. 16S2. Mrs. Sarah Bemis, the 
mother of Mrs. John Deymond, was m. the second time to Edward Griswold of Killingworth. Sav. 
Gen. Die. 

Thomas Dimond 2. was a mariner & settled at New London. He m. 22. Sept ; 1670 Eliza- 
beth d. of Peter Bradley. His children were : Elizabeth b. 14. Aug. 1672 ; Thomas 22. July 
1675 ; Moses 14. May 1677 ; Ruth 12. Sept. 1680; & John 25. July 1686. He died in 16S7. 
Savage's Gen. Die. 

Moses Dimond i. settled at F. & pur. 1670 of John Purdy of Westchester, the Purdy home- 
stead on the Frost Square, which remained in the Dimond family for many years. He ra. Abigail 

d. of Their children were Moses, Hester, Grace, also Abigail b. 20. Aug. 1676 ; Thomas 

15. Sept. 1678. His will is dated 21. March 16S3. The inventory of his estate valued at ']()'},£, 
was taken 16. April 1684, about which time he died. He apt. his loving brethren John Burr & 
Samuel Ward, overseers of his will. F. T. Rec. 

Moses Dimond 2. settled at F. & m. d. of Their children were: Moses b. 17 

April 1693 ; John 17. Nov. 1700 ; Thomas 29. Aug. 1703 ; Ebenezer iS. March 1704-*; Abigail 
17. Aug. 1707 ; David 20. Nov. 1709 ; (in which yr. the father is called Lieut.) : Damaris 24. Aug. 
1712 ; (this yr. the father is called Capt.), & Damaris again 31. Oct. 1714. F. Par. Rec. 

Capt. Moses Dimon 3. was born 4. April 1698, & settled at Greenfield. His w. was Hannah 
Gilburt b. 29. Dec. 1700. They were m. 27. April 1721. He was one of the first deacons of the 
Greenfield church in 1726. Their children were : +Jane b. 11. Aug 1722; +Sarah 16 July 1724; 
+ David 5 July 1726 ; Sarah 6. May 1728 ; + Hannah 20. April 1730 ; x Hannah 15. April 1731 ; 
X Hannah 24. May 1733 ; Moses 2. March 1734-^ ; Jonathan 25. April 1738 ; Dameris 23. March 
+ 1744"°; +Abigail 4 June 1749 & died soon after. Sarah, Moses, Jonathan & Dameris were the 
only survivors of the eleven children. G. Par. Rec. 

FANTON 

Jonathan Fanton m. first Sarah d. of Humphrey Hide i. & second. Sarah the widow of Peter 
Coley I. Their children were Sarah bapt. 18. Nov 1694 : Ellen 17. May 1696 ; Anne 14. Aug 
1698 ; Jonathan 22. Sept 1700; Mary 2. May 1703 ; John 5. Jan 1706"^ ; John again 10. Oct 
1708. F. Par. Rec. 

John i. s. of Jonathan Fanton i. b. 22. Aug. 1709, m. Mary d. of Rowland 28. Oct. 

1732. Their children were Hannah b. 15. July 1735; Abigail 15. Feb 1736-'; Jonathan 2. Nov. 
1738; Anne 2. Nov. 1740; Hezekiah 28. Oct. 1743; John — Jan. 1745^; Mary b. — 1751 ; a 
child not named bapt. 1753. G. II. Par. Rec. 



368 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD 

FROST 

William Frost I. settled at F. in 1639. His home-lot lay on the s. w. of the school & church 
division of the Meeting-house Green. He was an old man when he came to F. of whom Lechford 
in his Plain Dealing, mentions with compassion, & states that he was from Nottingham England. 
He was evidently a man of good family, who from his religious principles, & perhaps to escape 
persecution, had sought to end his days peacefully in New England : He died in 1645. In his will 
dated 6 Jan. 1644-, he gives to his eldest son Daniel 2 parts of his upland Sc meadow, interest in 
Reed Swamps & Ponds, 15 acres of meadow pur. of John Gray at Munchunchosor-Sasqug, & his 
cloak & warming pan : to ds Rebecca & Sarah one black heifer : to his s. Abraham a house & 
land pur. of John Strickland, his bed clothes, a little chest & contents, two great oxen, two great 
yearling calves, & i of his household goods : to his d. Elizabeth & her husband John Gray, a sow 
& her pigs, & j part of his household goods : to the children of Elizabe th Gray, by her first husband 
Jo/m Watson, namely Luke Watson^'a two year old black heifer ; & to Susanna & Joanna Wat- 
son, the profit of one black four year old heifer : to John Gray's two children a red heifer, the profits 
to be equally divided between them : to his d. Lydia & her husband Henry Gray, he gave the use 
of his house & home-lot, with the part of it which he changed with John Foster, & -j part of his 
meadow & upland : to Mary d. of Henry Gray one red heifer : to his d. Mary Rylie living in Eng- 
land, all his goods in Old England. To the town of Uncoway he left ten pounds '' towards build- 
ing a Meeting-house, to be paid when it is half built." 

Daniel i. s. of William Frost i. who settled near his father in the Frost Square, sold his 
house & home-lot of 3I acres to John Banks in 1648, & became one of the five Bankside farmers. 
His home-lot of ten acres at Bankside, was situated on Long Island Sound on the east side of Frost 
Point, & commanded one of the finest prospects of that beautiful region of country. He m. Eliz- 
abeth d. of John Barlow. Their children were : Rebecca b. 1640, who m. 5 Jan. 1664 Simeon 
Booth ; Daniel ; Joseph ; Isaac ; Sarah who m. Samuel Smith ; Rachel who m. Robert Rumsey ; 
Hannah who m. John Thorp & Esther who m. 

Daniel s. of Daniel Frost i. m. Mary d. of Henry Rowland. He was given by his father 
before he died his house & a portion of the home-lot at Bankside, provided he gave a certain main- 
tenance yearly to his mother during her life time. His children were Isaac bapt. 26. Aug 1694 ; 
Rebecca 4. July 1697. & William 6. June 1700. 

Joseph of Bankside s. of Daniel Frost i. m. Elizabeth (b. 1652) d. of Richard Hubbell of 
Pequonnock, & was given a small house with a portion of the home-lot of his father's at Frost Point, 
provided he also gave a certain maintenance to his mother yearly. His children were : Isaac bapt. 
26. Aug 1694 ; Abner 16. Feb 1695^ ; Rebecca 4. July 1697 ; William 16. June 1700. He died in 
1707, in which year his estate was distributed. His widow Elizabeth m. Samuel Hull of F. & had 
children Cornelius & Josiah. 

Isaac s. of Daniel Frost i. died in 1684, in which year his will is probated. He left his prop- 
erty to his brothers & sisters, & to the children of his sister Mrs. Samuel Smith. 

GILBERT 

Obediah Gilbert in 1670, recorded, that he had quiet possession of his home-lot at F. on the 
Burr Square, for several years, lying, s. w. of Jehue Burr's land near the Old Field Gate. He m. 
Elizabeth, widow of Nehemiah Olmstead of F. & died in 1674. In his will dat. 23. Aug. of the 
same year, he gave his wife Elizabeth the use of his homestead at F. while she remained his widow ; 
~o£ of his estate, & 20;{^. out of a legacy due her in England ; the remainder of said legacy, to be 
divided between his sons; to step d. Sarah Olmstead 4s. in money ; to his three s. Obediah, Benja- 
min & Joseph 4J. in money each, & the remainder of his estate, when they each were twenty one 
years of age ; to s. Obediah he gave his "silver seal,'' & made his loving brethren Jonathan & 



GENEALOGIES 369 

Josiah Gilbert, the ovcr-secrs of his estate. His three s. Obediah, Benjamin & Joseph were bapt. 
at F. ig, May 1695. 

Obediah 2. s. of Obediah Gilbert i. m. Abigail d. of & settled at Greenfield. Their 

children were Benjamin bapt. 19. May 1695 ; John 23 May 1697 ; Elizabeth 8, Sept. 1700 ; x Abigail 
II. April 1703; Mary 29. April 1705 ; x Joseph 25. Aug. 1706 ; x Abigail 15. May 1709 ; Sarah 
g. March 171 1'--- ; Margaret 21, April 1717. F. & G. H. Par. Rec. 

Lieut. Benjamin, s. of Obediah Gilbert i. m. d. of & settled at Greenfield. 

Their children were Moses bapt. 4. Aug 1717 ; Abigail 12. June 1719 ; Sarah 2. July 1721 ; Ben- 
jamin 14, April 1723 ; Elizabeth 12. Sept. 1731. F. & G. H. Par. Rec. 

The following record has been donated by the Rev. Charles Payson Gilbert of West Farms, 
New York City. 

GILBERT, GOULD, AND MALXERY 

The Gilbert family was one of the first to settle in the now historic and ancient town 
of Fairfield, Connecticut, where even to this day some of that name may be found, though many 
of its representatives are in other towns of the State, and some in far distant sections of our rapidly 
growing country. 

Obadiah Gilbert's son Josepli was, if we mistake not, the father of John Gilbert who was bom 
in Fairfield in 1696, and who died in 1782 at the advanced age of 86 years, leaving four sons — 
Thaddeus, Kbenezer, Joseph, and John, Jr. 

The first named, Thaddeus Gilbert, married a Miss Winton and had Seth, Andrew, Elmer, 
and Thaddeus ; also one daughter who married a Mr. Scribner. 

The second named, Ebenezer Gilbert, who was born March 31^' 1724, had three wives and a 
large posterity, to whom we vi'ill refer hereafter. 

The third named, Joseph Gilbert, married a Miss Bradley, and had Stephen (of Newtown), Reu- 
ben (of Weston), Lois, v/ho married a Mr. Robertson, and Abagail, who married a Mr. Burr. 

The fourth named, John Gilbert, married a INIiss Merwin, and had Samuel, Lewis, Nathan, 
Thomas, and two daughters, all of whom went to Vermont about 1795. 

To return, Ebenezer Gilbert, was born March 31^' 1724. He married a Miss Northrop, and 
had the following children, Hezekiah, born Dec. 1744, resided at the home of his father until he 
was forty years old v/hen he was drowned ; Anna who married David Thompson and died on Long 
Island ; Ebenezer, Jr. who was born June 1754, and David, born Nov 1746, and died Nov 1812. 

The latter married Abagail the daughter of William Wakeley. and lived on the borders of 
Weston, three or four miles from Greenfield Centre. The dwelling which he occupied, has long 
since disappeared, but the site is still identified. 

This property, during the occupancy of David Gilbert, and the adjoining farm, then owned by 

Mr. Seeley was the scene of a wonderful and startling occurrence. On the 14"" of Dec. 1807, 

a ball of fire nearly the size of the moon passed across the heavens, at an immense height, and of 
intense brilliancy. 

Having passed the zenith (says Goodrich) it swiftly descended toward the earth. While still at 
a great elevation it burst, with three successive explosions, into fiery fragments of stone, many of 
which fell in the town of Weston, and several of the largest were found on the farms above 
described, and very near the houses occupied by David Gilbert and Mr. Seeley. A specimen weigh- 
ing twenty-five pounds, may now be seen in the Mineralogical Cabinet of Yale College. 

David Gilbert had among others a son Northrop, who was born Dec 26"' 1782, and who married 
Charity, the daughter of David and Abagail (Hill) Gould of Greenfield, and had several children, 
one of whom, Clara was born Sept. i'' 1806. and was married Feby 12"' 1824 to Daniel Mallery, one 
of the leading merchants of Bridgeport, with whom she subsequently moved to Philadelphia. Penna 
She became the mother of ten children, three of whom, Daniel, Richard, and Charles, entered the 
24 



370 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD 

ministry of the Presbyterian Church and one of whom Eliza, became the wife of James Ogdin of 
the United States Navy. 

Ebenezer Gilbert, above referred to, on the death of his wife, married Miss P. Burr, and had 
three children, Burr, John, and Huldah. On the death of his second wife he married, Sept. 2^^^ 
1766, Miss Hannah Bennet who bore him, among other children, Ezra, March 8* 1772. The latter 
married Miss Rebecca Minor, and became the father of a large family, including Jerusha Emily, 
born Nov. 5* iSog who married the Rev. W"* R. Stocking, with whom she became a Missionary of 
the American Board in Persia, and Rev. W" H. Gilbert who is now Secretary of the Connecticut 
Bible Society. 

It is interesting to note that the Gilberts, many years ago intermarried with a Fairfield family, 
no less distinguished, by the name of Gold, or Gould, as it is now generally written. 

He died Oct 3<^ 1723 aged 60 years, leaving among other sons Onesimus, whose home was in the 
vicinity of Greenfield. There was born to him a son, David, whose daughter Charity Gould married 
Northrop Gilbert, and bore Clara, who became the wife of Daniel Mallery, named above. 

GOLD 
Gold, Gould — Nathan Gold came from St. Edmundsbury in South Britain. He 
pur. land at Milford Ct. in 1647 {Milford T. Rec. Vol. i. p. loi.) On the 12. Dec. 1649 
he " pur. George Hubbard's dwelling-house & home-lot at Milford, & all his upland & meadow, 
with all the appurtenances thereto belonging." On the 31. of Dec. following, he sold the above 
purchase to John Streame, & re-moved to Fairfield. Here he first pur. John Foster's homestead 
on the Frost Square, which he sold to Thomas Sherwood 15. Dec. 1653. He next pur. of Alex- 
ander Bryan, Richard Perry's homestead on the Newton Square 8. Dec. 1653 ; & also Edmund 
Harvey's homestead on the n. e. of sd Newton's lot. On the 30. Nov. 1653, he pur. Thomas New- 
ton's homestead, lying between Richard Perry's & the parsonage land ; & through Alexander 
Bryan sold it to Dr. Thomas Pel) 9. Feb 1653-. He next pur. 11. May 1654, Rodger Ludlow's 
homestead & home-lot of six acres on the n. e. corner of the Ludlow Square ; & also Ludlow's 
pasture lot, at the present time occupied by Mrs. Abraham Benson, the widow of a Revolutionary 
officer. The name of his first wife is not known. His second wife was Martha wid. of Edmund 
Harvey of F. His name is mentioned in the Connecticut Royal Charter of 1662. He died 4. 
March 1694, greatly revered & beloved by the people of the town ; & honored throughout Conn. 
New England, & in fact throughout the country for his christian character, sterling worth, & great 
usefulness. His will is dated i. March 1693^, in which he gave to his " only & well beloved son 
Nathan " his home lot & new house, buildings & fences, bd. s. w. by the home stead of Nathaniel 
Burr, & on all other sides with highways ; also the opposite pasture-lot with buildings & accom- 
modations, & the house he built for him on this land, with i\ acres adjoining ; \ of his building 
lot in the woods ; ^4 of his long-lot, & ^ of his interest in the Perpetual Common, & other lands; 
one horse, a yoke of oxen, cart, plow, & carpenter's tools, & all stock & other estate, which he had 
previously given him ; also his Bible, wearing-apparel, arms, ammunition & staff, & his farm in the 
woods, lying on both sides of the .Saugatuck River. To his four ds. viz : Sarah wife of John 
Thompson of F., Deborah w. of George Clark of Milford, Abigail w. of Jonathan Selleck of 
Stamford & d Martha widow of John Selleck, he gave the remainder of his estate, to be equally 
divided among them. Dr. Josiah Harvey of F. m. an elder d. of Major Nathan Gold, who died 
childless before her father. Martha was the widow of John Selleck, another s. of Jonathan 
Selleck i,* who died before Major Nathan Gold. Martha next m. 16 April 1695, the Rev. John 

* The will of Jonathan Selleck i. of Stamford, who m. Abaigail d. of Richard Law of the same place, is dated 
21. Dec. 1713, & mentions his grand-son Gold Selleck s. of his s. John; a d. of Abigail who m. Jacob Moore of 
New York & her s. Jacob ; gives his books to ttie Rev. John Davenport of Stamford ; & the remainder of his 
estate to his grandson Nathan Selleck. Jonathan Selleck i. survived his wife & sons. 



GENEALOGIES 3/1 

Davenport of Stamford who " was born in Boston 2S. Feb. i66g, & was the s. of John Davenport 
Esqr. the onlj' s. of Rev. John Davenport, the ecclesiastical founder of New Haven. He grad. at 
II. C. in 16S7, & commenced preaching in iGgo. By Martha Gold Selleck he had seven children 
viz: "Abigail who m. Rev. Stephen Williams D.D. of Springfield, & became the mother of an 
illustrious family; John of New Canaan ; Martha who m. Rev. Thomas Goodsell of Brandford ; 
Sarah who first m. Capt. William Maltbie of New Haven, & second Rev. Eleazer Wheelock 
D.D., the founder & first president of Dartmouth College; and thus became the ancestress of a 
talented & noble lineage ; Theodore who d. early ; Deacon Deodate of East Haven ; & Elizabeth 
who m. the Rev. William Gaylord of Wilton, Conn. Mrs. Martha Davenport d. i. Dec. 1712." 
Her death was deemed no ordinary event, as attested by the extraordinary record of it found in 
Book I. p. no of Stamford T. Rec. as follows: "That eminently Pious & virtuous. Grave & 
whorthily much Lamented Matron Mrs. Martha Davenport, Late wife of the Reverend Mr. John 
Davenport, Pastor of ye Church of Christ in Stamford, Laid down or exchanged Her mortal or 
temporall Life, to putt on Immortality & to be crowned with Immortal Glory ; on ye i^' Day of 
Decemb. 1712." Mr. Davenport next m. Mrs. Elizabeth Maltby d. of John Morris, by whom he 
had two children ; Hon. Abraham & Rev. James Huntington's Hist. Statu ford, p. 270. 

Lieut. Gov. N.vthan Gold 2. s. of Major Nathan Gold i. m. Hannah d. of Col. John Tal- 
cott 2. of Hartford, & sister of the great lawyer, John Read of Boston. His children were Abi- 
gail b. 14. Feb. 16S7, who m. Rev. Thomas Hawley of Ridgefield, Conn. 8. Nov. 1738 ; John b. 
25. April 16S8, who m. Hannah Slawson ; Hezekiah (birth not recorded) grad. at PI. C. in 1719, 
m. Mary Ruggles, & became a minister at Stratford, where he d. 22. April 1761 ; Nathan 6. April 
1690 ; Samuel 27. Dec. 1692 (F. T. Rec.) ; Sarah bapt. 23. July i6g6 ; Sarah again bapt. 3. March 
1699-'^"- ; Onesimus bapt. ig. Oct. 1701 ; David bapt. 3. Dec. 1704 ; Martha bapt. 8 Feb. 1707- 
(at which time the father is called the W'orshipful Nathan Gold), & Joseph, b. 21. Oct. 1711. Lieut 
Gov. Nathan Gold died the 31. Oct. 1723, when but sixty years of age. His tomb-stone, well pre- 
served, is in the Burial Hill Cemetery. His will is dated 13. Sept 1723. (Superior Court Rec. Hart- 
ford, Vol. 3 V p. 545-6) in which he gives his eldest s. John adoublc portion of his estate ; to s. Samuel 
one single share, including what he had already given him ; tos. Hezekiah " 50;^ over& above what 
he had expended upon his learning ; " to son-in-law Rev. Thomas Hawley, of Ridgefield, who had 
m. his d. Abigail lOO;^. besides her mar. dower : tod. Martha (who m Samuel Sherman) 200;/^ ; 
to sons Onesimus, David & Joseph one single portion of his estate. 

John i. s. of Lieut : Gov : Nathan Gold m. Hannah Slawson. Their children were Hannah 
b. 20. Sept. 1716 ; Sarah bapt. i. June 171S ; John bapt. 29. May 1720 ; Nathan bapt. 2. Feb 
1723- ; Elizabeth bapt. 24. April 1726 ; Talcott bapt. i. Sept. 172S ; Mary bapt. 6. June 1731 ; 
Jemima bapt. 18. June 1738. F. Par. Rec. John Gold lived in the Frost Homestead. He died 
the 23. Sept. 1766, in the 79* year of his age. His tomb-stone is in the Burial Hill Cemetery. 
He probably m. twice the second wife, perhaps, a d. of Rev. Thomas Hawley of Ridgefield. 

Nath.\n 3 s. of Nathan Gold 2. m. d. of Their children were Catee bapt. 25. 

Sept. 1726, (who m. Jacob Le.vitt 18. Oct. 1742) ; Ann 4. Feb. 1727- ; Nathan ; & Martha 24. 
May 1730. Martha m. David Hubbell 5. Feb. 1753. F. Par. Rec. Through this m. of David 
Hubbell & Martha Gold, the homestead of Roger Ludlow & Major Nathan Gold, passed into the 
Hubbell family. 

Samuel s. of Nathan Gold 2. m. Esther d. of Bradley. Their children were Hester 

bapt. 8. Nov. r7ig; Abigail 24. May 1724; Abel 17. Sept. 1727; Abraham 18. Oct. 1730; 
Abraham again 14. May 1732. F. Par. Rec. Samuel Gold pr. the present Gould Homestead at 
F. now occupied. (1888.) by the three d's of the late Hon. John Gould. Samuel Gould died 11. 
.Oct. I76g. 

Onesimus s. of Nathan Gold 2 m. Eunice d. of & settled at Greenfield. Their children 

were Rebecca bapt. 4. Oct. 1724, at F. ; Nathan 17 Sept. 1726 ; David 22. Oct 172S ; Luther 



372 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD 

lO. Oct. 1631 ; Eunice, Aug 1733 ; Stephen, May 1736 ; Sarah, 21. Aug. 1737 ; Aaron, 25. Jan 1740. 
G. H. Par. Rec. 

Joseph s. of Nathan Gold 2. m. Abigail d. of Their children were Hannah bapt. 22. 

June 1740 ; John 21. Aug. 1755. F. Par. Rec. 

The Golds did not add the u. to their name until about 1S06 ; when Jason Gold introduced it. 

THE GODFREE OR GODFREY FAMILY 

According to a tradition in the Godfrey family of Green's Farms, the original settlers of that 
branch of the family in New England were from Normandy ; that from their native country they 
first went to Greenwich England, & from there to the United States. Christopher Godfree first 
purchased land at Compo in 1686, one year after the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, which 
leads to the conclusion that perhaps he was one of the French or Norman Refugees. 

The late Hon. Jonathan Godfrey, his sister Mrs. Elsey Parker, & Joseph & Abraham Godfrey, 
sons of the late Edward Godfrey of Ridgefield, Ct. all give the same tradition. They have also 
often spoken about their connection with the Taunton & Cape Cod branches of the Godfrey family, 
& said that they early called each other cousins. As yet no record has been found making the 
connecting link between these families. Once only is the name of Richard Godfrey found in the 
Green's Farm's Parish Records, where it is recorded by the Rev. Dr. Ripley, that " Capt. Richard 
Godfrey died of appoplexy 19. Dec. 1S09 in the 6i^f year of his age." As the name of Richard is 
not among the christian names of the Green's Farm's Godfreys, the conclude is that Capt. Richard 
Godfrey was one of the Taunton branch, & was visiting his cousins at Green's Farms when he 
died. 

A very interesting account of the Taunton Godfreys, is to be found in Contributions Biograph- 
ical, Genealogical & Historical, by E. W. Pierce. He traces a highly honorable descent from 
Richard Godfrey, who settled in Taunton as early, if not before 1652. Many of this family dis- 
tinguished themselves in the French & Indian Wars & in the Revolution. General George God- 
frey of Taunton " retained the command of the Bristol Co. Brigade until 17S1, for a term of about 
five years." There were also several distinguished physicians in the family. They all appear to 
have been men of influence & spirit. 

The name of Godfrey is an historical one. The Latin motto " Deus et Libertas,"' which we 
find under one of the Godfrey coat of arms, is one which indicates that the family fought the 
battles of God & freedom. In Saxon the name signifies at peace with God, in which alone is true 
freedom. The name is early spelled in the F. T. R. Godfree. 

The first name of this family at Green's Farms or Compo, was that of Christopher Godfree. 
His name appears in Letter A. of F. T. D., where it is recorded, that Christopher Godfree on the 
29. Dec 1686 purchased Seargt. Richard Hubbells' dividends of Compo lands. He also after- 
wards improved town lands, which were eventually granted him. On the 31. July 1695 he 
purchased of James Newton, about twenty-five acres of land at Green's Farms, in the woods at 
Benjamins' hill, which commanded a magnificent view of the surrounding country. Long Island 
Sound & the Norwalk Islands, "being the whole of a pasture & building lot laid out to Robert 
Beacham dec." 

The next we find of his family is in the Parish Record of Christ's Church, Fairfield, where it 
is recorded by the Rev. Joseph Webb, that on the 17. July 1697 Anne Godfrey (wife of Christo- 
pher Godfrey), renewed her Covenant with the Church. 

On the 17. July i6g8 Christopher & Samuel, sons of Christopher Godfrey, & Elizabeth, Mary 
& Abigail, daughters of Christopher Godfrey, were baptized. 

John son of Christopher Godfrey i. was baptz. 23, April 1699. 

Isaac, son of the above Christopher, was baptz. 14. Feb 1703. all by the Rev. Joseph 

Webb. 



GENEALOGIES 373 

These same names appear in the settlement of the estate of Christopher Godfrey, who died in 
the year 1715. Having died intestate, his widow Anne, which, on the town records is spelled 
Ann, was appointed by the Court to administer with his son Samuel on his estate, " in the recogni- 
zance of one hundred pounds cash for the faithful discharge of their duty." In the final settlement 
of the estate 5. June 171S. it amounted to £2~2- 2s. id. 

Christopher 2. s. of Christopher Godfrey i. m. 11 Feb. 1711, Margery d. of John Sturges 
2, s. of John Sturges i. of F. Their children were David b. 20. Feb. 1713 ; Stephen 8. Sept. 
1715 ; Nathan 25. Sept. 1719 ; Eleazer 15. March 1721 ; Isaac 25. Dec. 1724; Ebenezer 27. June 
1727. 

Christopher Godfrey d. 20. Aug. 1758. Margery Godfrey d. 20 Aug. 1759. F. T. Rcc. 
of Births', Deaths' & Marriages'. 

Deacon David i., s. of Christopher Godfrey 2. m. 24. June 173S, Mary d. of Daniel Silii- 
man. Their children were : Daniel b. 20. March 1739 ; •'^ri" ^^- ^^^X ^74° • David i. Sept 1743 ; 
Silliman i. May 1750, & was a Lieut, in the Revolution. Mary 24. Feb. 1752 ; Jonathan i. 23, 
Dec. 1754 ; Sarah 12. Feb. 1757 

David Godfrey i. was one of the Deacons of the Green's Farms' church. 

Eleazer i. s of Christopher Godfrey 2. m. Rachel d. of Bennet 21. Jan. 1749. Their 

children were: Isaac bapt. 29. Nov. 1749 ; & m. 8. Feb. 1798, Abigail Couch of Northfield, Ct. 
Moses b. 10. June 1750; Eleazer 31. Oct 1756. 

Stephen s. of Christopher Godfrey 2. m. Elizabeth d. of Lewis, 11. June 1739. Their 

children were: Sarah b. 17, May 1741, «S: m. 7. Feb. 1759, John Hurlburt of Westport, Ct. 
Nathan 30. April 1743 ; Stephen 4. Oct. 1745 ; Betty 16. Feb. 1747, & m. 3. March 1763 Eben 
Lewis. 

Lieut. Nathan i. s. of Christopher 2. & Margerj' Sturgis Godfrey m. Martha d. of 

Couch II. June 1747. Their children were : Abraham b. 13. March 1748 ; Martha 24. May 1752; 

& m. John Burr 18. Oct. 1772. Nathan 19. Aug. 1754; Benjamin b , & d. in the army at 

Albany, N. Y. in 1776. Molly bapt. 20. Aug. 1758 ; & m. Seymour Lockwood of Norwalk 14. 
Sept. 1795 ; who was the grand-father of the late Le Grand Lockwood of Norwalk, Ct. 

Martha wife of Lieut. Nathan Godfrey d. 31 May 1761. 

2n'i wife of Lieut. Nathan Godfrey, whom he m. g. Nov. 1764, was Sarah* d. of Jonathan 
Andrews, & wid. of Jonathan Nash 2. Their children were : Rhoda bapt. 18. Aug. 1765 ; m. 

Morris & moved to Ohio. Jonathan 2. bapt. 1766. Esther 17. Sept. 1769 ; Ebenezer 

17. IMarch 1772 ; Andrews 14. April 1776. 

Lieut. Nathan Godfrey was commissioned a Lieutenant of Capt. Whiting's company, in the 
first attack made on Ticonderoga in 1756. lie was one of the most influential & wealthy men of 
Green's Farms. His homestead, which stood near the summit of Clapboard-hill was burned by 
the British in 1779 — See Centennial Commemoration of the Burning of Fairfield in 1S79. 

Jonathan 2. s. of Lieut. Nathan Godfrey m, Esther d. of Whitehead 30. Nov. 1788. 

Their children w-ere : Nathan bapt. i. Oct. 1789, m. Catharine Brown of Norwalk, Ct., Abel 27. 
Nov. 1791. d. 1811 unmarried ; Ebenezer 7. July 1793, & d. 30. Sept. 1807; Elsey b. 30. Oct. 
1796. m. Samuel Parker, & d. 27. July 1882 ; Jonathan 3. b. 2. June 1798, d. 3. Aug. 1882 ; Seth 
bapt. 24. March 1S02. m. Eliza Cox of New York. 

Esther wife of Jonathan Godfrey 2. d. 24 March 1803. 2. wife of Jonathan Godfrey 2. was 
Huldah Parsons, whom he m. 26. Oct. 1803. Their children were: Esther, Eliza, Mary, Ebenezer, 
Simon, Ann, & Frederick. 

* Sarah the wife of Lieut. Nathan Godfrey had the following children by her first husband Jonathan Nash 2. 
Sarah b. 17. Jan. 1755 ;ni. Thomas Couch of Reading, Ct. Elizabeth 3. Oct. 1756; d. i. March 1775 ; Eleanor 
14. Jan. 1758 ; m. Simon Couch of Reading, Ct. a brother of the above Thomas C. 

Sarah Nash Godfrey was also the great grand-mother of Gen. D. N. Couch of Norwalk, Ct. 
Jonathan Nash 2. was the grand-father of the late, distinguished Dr. Nash of Bridgeport, Ct. 



374 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD 

Jonathan 3. s. of Jonathan Godfrey 2. & grandson of Lieut. Nathan Godfrey, b. 2. June 
1798, m. Elizabeth d. of Aaron & Elizabeth Hubbell of Southport, Ct. 19. Jan. 1823. Their 
children were, Elizabeth, Harriet, both of whom d. young. Jonathan 4 (a clergyman, in the 
Episcopal church); Elizabeth Hubbell, (the author of the History of Fairfield), who m. Adrian 
V. S. Schenck, s. of the late Dr. Ferdinand S Schenck of New Jersey ; Samuel H. who m. Harriet 
A. Godfrey, d. of Edward Godfrey Esqr. of Ridgefield, Ct, and Mary Catherine, who m. Calvin 
G. Child of Norwich, Ct. 

The above Jonathan Godfrey 3. was a man of influence both in church & state. He d. 3. Aug. 
1882, esteemed & beloved by all who knew him, for his honorable name & many charities. 

GRAY 

John Gray, who first settled at Lynn, Mass. & m. before May 1639 Elizabeth d. of William 
Frost I., & widow of John Watson of Boston, sold his home-lot at Lynn in Aug. of the same year, 
& probably accompanied his father-in-law to Uncoway, before the 28. of Sept. following. He was 
granted 2i acres on the s. w. of the Frost Square, which he sold a few years after to Alexander 
Bryan, who re-sold it to Henry Rowland i. 18. March 1649. He probably moved to Long Island, 
as his name is mentioned there, in Thompson's Hist, of L. I. He no doubt had other children, 
besides the two mentioned without christian names, in William Frost's will : but of him I find no 
more. 

Henry Gray 2., found in the F. Par. Rec, was probably a son of John i. He m. d. 

of Their children were : Isaac, Henry, William & David, all bapt. 30. April 1699 ; also 

Deborah & Mary bapt. 25. June 1704 ; Samuel & Martha bapt. 6. March 1714'^ F. Par. 
Rec. 

Henry Gray i, a brother of the above John i. settled, at Boston, where he had a house-lot 
granted 12. Feb. 1639. In an instrument executed 7. Sept. 1639, he is described as "now of Boston, 
hitherto citizen & merchant of London." [Lechford's manuscript Journal.] Soon after Sept. 1639, 
he m. Lydia d. of William Frost i., & joined his father-in-law at F. in 1640, lived with him, & 
received the use of his homestead after his death, which was entailed to his son Jacob Gray. He 
appears to have been rather wild for a time, but soon settled down, & became a useful member 
of society. He, with John Green, became security for Thomas Newton, in his troubles at F. in 
1648 ; & was fined 20^ in 1650, for speaking his mind to the Court. He afterwards became a 
deputy to the Gen. Ct. in 1656 & 57. from F. He was one of the Bankside planters & died in 
1658. He probably had other children besides Jacob, which I do not find. 

Jacob s. of Henry Gray i., lived for a while in his grand-father Frost's homestead. In 1662, 
there is a record of a pledge, entered in A. of F. T. D., which he gave to his uncle Daniel Frost 
& Cornelius Hull, that he would not sell his grand-father Frost's homestead. He did sell this 
place to the Rev. Samuel Wakeman a few years after ; & on 21. Dec. 1683 pur. of said Wakeman 
l| acres on the s. w. end of the home-lot that was formerly Ephraim Wheeler's, bounded s. e. by 
John Thompson's, s. w. & n. w. highways, & s. e. by said Wakeman's land. On the 21. 
Aug 1685, he sold a rood & 3} rods in breadth of this lot to Peter Bulkley. In Feb. 1707-* 
he is found at Greenfield, or in the Mile of Common, where he lived on two acres next adjoin- 
ing to his s. Jacob's homestead. Hem. Sarah d. of Their children were Mehitable; 

Rebecca b. i. Jan. 1670 ; Sarah g. Oct. 1677 ; & Jacob. He died early in 1712 & his s. Jacob 
& widow Sarah administered upon his estate, which was distributed 3. March of that year. He 
had already given to his d. Mehitable as her marriage portion, 11 acres of the front of his long-lot 
17. April 1690. The distribution of his estate is made by his widow Sarah &hiss. Jacob Feb. 
1707"^. His d. Sarah m. Samuel Umberfield of New Haven, & had children Sarah b. 2. April 
1695 ; Ann 28. April 1700; John 15. March 1702 ; Thomas 8. Feb. 1705 ; Eliza 27. Oct. 1708 ; 
Esther 12. Septi7io; Mary 28. Aug. 1714 ; David 16. Aug. 1716. Savage's Gen. Die. 



GENEALOGIES 375 

Jacob 2. s. of Jacob Gray i. entered into covenant with the G. II. P. 5. June 1712. He m. 

Hannah d. of Their children were : + Nathaniel, Sarah, John, James, Jacob, Rebecca 

& Eunice, all bapt. by the Rev. John Goodsell 12. June 1726 ; & Mary bapt. March 1728-'. 
G. H. Par. Rec. 

A branch of the Gray family settled at Westport, where the name is still to be found. In the 
Parish Records, the name is sometimes spelled Grey. It is highly probable that the first John & 
Henry Gray were the sons of John Gray of London, mentioned in George Ludlow's will. The T. 
& Par. Rec's. of F. & G. H., furnish the earliest records of this family. 

GREEN 

John Green, who was made a freeman 9. Oct. 1662, was an early settler at F. where he was 
granted a home-lot from the town, of three acres on the n. w. of the Frost Square, lying between 
Daniel Frost's & Henry Whelpley's. He with Henry Gray gave 200;^. security in 1648 for Thomas 
Newton, in an action between said Newton & Jonas Wood. He ran a grist mill for the town, a 
little above Thomas Sherwood's on Mill River. He sold his homestead at F. in 1648 to Simon 
Hoyt, & removed to Bankside, where he took up a home-lot of ten acres, lying west of Francis 
Andrews. He also owned seven acres between Sherwood's Island & the Little Islands, & other 
parcels of land, which were given the name of Greens farms, which name in the course of time 
superseded that of Bankside. He was a man of remarkable energy & enterprise ; one of those 
sterling characters, specially adapted to a pioneer life. He was a large land holder in the tov/n, 
sharing in all the land dividends. His long-lot lay east of Francis Andrews, which formed the west 
boundary of the town, near the Saugatuck river. His testimony before witnesses as to the early 
settlers of F. is of great value. In a deed dated 24. June 1699, he gave his negro Harry his free- 
dom after his decease ; provided said Harry served five years to any master of his own choosing for 
20;i^ , which 20;^. was to be added to his estate, as part pay for his sons' education & for board to 
his father-in-law Hobbey. One half of this 20;^. was to be paid, when half of the five years had 
expired, & the other half at the expiration of the five years, & then " ye said negro which is now 
my negro shall be a free negro, & his own man for himself. " He gave said Harry a horse & the 
violin " he calleth his." 

He died intestate about 1703, leaving widow Hannah ; but the T. Rec. are silent as to his 
family. His son John appears to have inherited the most of his estate at F. 

John 2. s. of John Gieen i. m. d. of Their children were John & Hannah bapt. 

at F.,i6 Sept. 1705. F. Par. Rec. He probably removed to Long Island, as I find no more of 
him, or of his father's descendants. 

GRUMMAN 

John Grumman was made a freeman of F. in 1664. He m. Sarah d. of Michael Try. In 
his will dated 2. June 1685, he mentions the following children John ; Samuel ; Thomas ; 
Michael ; & Sarah who m. Samuel Jennings ; & was granted a home-lot n w of John Bank's first 
home-lot near Hyde's Pond. & Abigail b. in 1685. He left 4,£ to Thomas Oliver of F. 

John 2. s. of John Grumman i. m. Esther d. of Richard Lyon. Their children were Thomas 
& Samuel bapt. i5. Sept 1694 ; Esther, Silenne, Thankful & John bapt. 5, July 1713 ; Eliza- 
beth 4. Aug. 1717. F. T. & Par. Rec. 

HALL 

Francis Hall was in the list of those who subscribed to the fundamental agreement 4. June 

1639, at the gathering of the church at New Haven. He is represented to have been a son of 

Gilbert Hall of Kent, England, & was himself of Milford, Surry Co. He came to America with 

his brother William who settled at Guilford. In 1641 the Gen. Ct of New Haven ordered, "that 



376 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD 

he should have liberty to dispose of the children which he brought out with him, until the Court 
had light to dispose otherwise of them, provided that they were well looked unto & well used." 
He took the oath of fidelity before Governor Eaton on the i. July 1644. In 1647, having been 
warned with Thomas Pell, John Thompson & others to appear at Court, which he failed to do, 
" though the Court sat a good space of time," orders were given that he with the others should be 
warned to the next court for neglect. The children referred to above, were, John & Thomas 
Whitehead, who had been sent out from England under the care of Francis Hall, to their Uncle 
Thomas Allcote of Roxbury " in the Bay." The Uncle died before their arrival, & Hall excused 
himself before the Court for any blame attached to him, he having been at the expense of their 
voyage &c., & that upon making an effort he failed to find their Uncle, & had submitted the case 
to the Court, which had placed Thomas Whitehead with Mathias Hitchcock, but he had kept John 
himself " until they might have further light to dispose of them." The Court " having pity upon 
them, seeing they were so small," & being desirous that they should have no wrong done them 
debated long upon the subject. Mathias Hitchcock, having put Thomas Whitehead out to David 
Atwater, which he had no right to do, it was decided that the boy, at his own request, should, 
remain with Mr. Atwater, until he should hear from his Uncle. Mr Atwater & the Court agreed 
that he should have three pounds a year, meat, drink & clothes & finally set him free. N. H. Col. 
Rec. Savage says he was at Stratford after 1648. He was admitted a freeman of the Connecticut 
Colony 21. May 1657, but was at Fairfield earlier, where he owned a farm, called Hall's farm lying 
s. e. of the Newton Square. He owned land at Greenlea, & shared in the land dividends of the 
town. His first wife Elizabeth accompanied him from England, & died 6. July 1665, leaving sons 
Francis (who died 5. March 1690) & Samuel ; & dau's. Mary ; Eliza ; Rebecca (who died 5. 
March 1690) ; & Hannah who m. Joseph Blackman of Stratford. He next m. Dorothy d, of Rev. 
Henry Smith of Weathersfield, & wid. of John Blackman of Stratford 3. Oct. 1665, who, Savage 
says, bore off a prize against the counter claim of John Thomas, whom .she had previously 
encouraged. His last days were greatly embittered by the quarrel of his sons, over lands he had 
deeded his older son at Pequonnock, at which time Samuel acted as attorney for his father. He 
died at Stratford, where he appears to have resided after his last marriage. His will is dated 3. 
Oct. 1690, in which month he died. His wid. m. Mark St. John of Norvvalk, who died 1693 ; & 
she m. for her fourth husband. Deacon Isaac Moore of Farmington. (Savage Gen. Die.) 

Isaac i. s. of Francis i. became a surgeon. He m. Lydia d. of Nicholas Knap of F. 16. 
Jan. 1666. Their children were Isaac b. 8. Nov 1667 ; Sarah 3. May 1668 ; Lydia 21. Sept 1670 ; 
Elizabeth 11. Nov. 1672 ; Samuel 14. Sept. 1674 ; Francis 26. Sept. 1676 ; John 8. Feb. 1677 ; & 
died 4 years after ; John 3. Jan. 1679 ; Mary 7, Aug. 1681 ; Abigail i. April 1683 ; Jonathan 2. 
Dec. 1684. Dr. Isaac Hall was engaged several years in a law-suit with his brothers, which was 
finally settled by Jonathan Pitman & George Pardee of New Haven as arbitrators. He sold his 
housing & lands in F. in 1684 to Richard Ogden, & removed to New Haven. 

Samuel s. of Francis Hall i. m. Mary d. of 26 March 1682. Their children were 

Francis b. 27. Feb. 1683 ; Edward 8. Jan 1685, & died 12. March 16S7 ; Mary 10. Feb 1685/^. 
He next m. Hannah d. of 16. March 1686-, who died on the 17. Nov. following. An- 
other s. James died 17. Dec. 1690. The Hall family appear to have settled in Bridgeport Sc its 
vicinity. 

HEDGE 

Stephen Hedge was in F. before 1670, where he died without children, leaving his estate 
to his nephew Antony Hedge of England. His will on file at F. is a remarkable document. 
Antony Hedge came to America & in A. of T. D., in recording the estate left him by his Uncle, 
calls himself "of the County Wilts in the kingdom of England." He deeded to Mrs. Rebecca 
Hull, d. of Rev. John Jones, land left him by his Uncle in Paul's Neck. Of him I find no more. 



GENEALOGIES Z77 

HIDE 

Humphrey Hide, as the name is written in the F. T. Rec, was at Windsor before coming 
to Fairfield. He was granted a home-lot of 2^ acres from the town, which was recorded 6. March 
1649, bounded n. e. with home-lot of John Banks ; n. w. commons ; s. w. John Thompson's 
home-lot ; s. e. highway. In 1653 he purchased of John Grumman 2^ acres adjoining this lot, 
bounded n. w. with commons ; s. w. with his own land ; n. e. & s. e. with a highway. He also 
pur. John Banks' home-lot about 1649. This land is located where F. Post Oftice now stands. 
There is a tradition that the pond, long known as Hide's Pond, did not exist in the early days of 
the town. Be this as it may, the spot came to be a pond, which was always called Hide's Pond, 
until filled up by Frederick Sturges Esqr. of F. in 1880. The Hide family arc believed to have 
been, & there seems to be no question about it, of the best blood of England. They have always 
been stanch, sterling, thrifty men in tlie town ; & for generations a Deacon Hide, has represented 
the family in the Greens Farm's Congregational Church. 

Humphrey Hide i. whose name is frequently seen in the F. Rec. as Hum. ^ Uvi. Hide. m. 
probably in England. In his will dated 12. Nov. 1679, he mentions w. Ann ; s. John, to whom 
he confirmed lands he had deeded him at various times at F., & gave him his sword & gun ; to his 
d. Sarah w. of Peter Coley, the use of several pieces of land, his Compo dividends, i of his long- 
lot & " V of his home-lot next the rocks," which, at her death was entailed to her son Samuel Coley 
or to his ne.Kt male heir, & in default of male heirs to her daughters ; — to d. Hannah (who m. 
William Sprague) & to her heirs, the other half of his home-lot after his wife's death ; half of his 
long-lot & other parcels of land at F., Sasqua & Bankside ; to the children of his s. John, namely 
John, Elizabeth, Sarah, & Mary 5^ apiece ; to children of d. Sarah namely Samuel, Sarah, Peter 
& Mary Coley 5^ each. He made his wife Ann sole executrix, & his friends John Gregory of 
Norwalk, & Robert Clark of Stratford, over-seers of his will. 

John i. s. of Humphrey Hide i. in 1680 was living in his father's homestead. He m. Eliza- 
beth (b. 25. July 1644) d. of Richard Harvey of Stratford, formerly of Concord, Mass., to whom 
said Harney deeded 33 acres of land at Stratford in 1686.—/^. T. Deeds. Their children were John 
b. I, May 1668 ; Elizabeth 23. Aug. 1669 who m. Edward Jesup of Bankside ; Mary 25. Sept. 
1670 who m. Benjamin Rumsey of Bankside ; Sarah 25. July 1672 who m. Jonathan Fanton of 
Fairfield. —F. T. D. He probably had other children, as one Deborah Plide who m. Moses Jack- 
son s. of Henry Jackson i. was probably his daughter. He appears to have moved to Green's 
Farms before the 23, of April 1697, at which time Jonathan Sturges purchased of Benjamin Rum- 
sey one acre in John Hide's home-lot, bounded n. e. with home-lot of William Sprague ; s. e. 
Daniel Burr, & s. w. Jonathan Sturges. 

John 2. s. of John Hide r. b. I. May 1668. m. Rachel d. of Robert Rumsey of Bankside i. 
Jan. 1692. Their children were John b. 6. Oct. 1692, who m. Rachel Holmes ; Elizabeth b. 9. 
Aug. 1694, who m. John Bell ; Demaris b. 2. Sept. 1696, who m. Thomas Whitlock ; Daniel b. 

31. March 1700, who m. Deborah ; Abigail b. 20 May 1702, who m. Joseph Mallery ; Sarah 

b. 25. Dec. 1703, who m. Jonathan Fanton ; Mary b. 8. Oct. 1705 ; who m. Benjamin Darling; 
Hannah b. 28. Sept. 1707, who m. Rev. Joseph Burr ; Rachel b. 6. Feb. 1713, who m. Daniel 
Lord, (in the Greenfield Par. Rec. it is written Robert Lord). " Recorded at Fairfield as follows : 
" Rachel w. of John Hide covenanted & was baptized 2. April 17 ro. At the same time her son 
Joseph was bapt. " — This John Hide 2. was a physician & died at Greenfield, where he resided in 
1744. His tomb-stone & that of his wife's are still to be seen in the old cemetery at Greenfield 
Hill. He was a Deacon in the church there, & the births & deaths of his children are to be found 
in the Greenfield Parish Record. 

John 3. s. of John Hide 2. b. 6. Oct 1692, m. Rachel Holmes 22. April 1718. Their children 

were : Eunice b. 10. Feb. 1719, who m. Wilson of Fairfield ; Mary b. 30. Sept. 1720, who m. 

David Coley 16. Dec. 1740 ; John b. 1725, who m. Abigail Ogden, & had no children ; Sarah 



3/8 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD 

b. 27. Nov. 1727, who m. Ebenezer Banks 18. June 1746; Joseph b. 1729, who m. Betty 

Sherwood (sister of Rev. Samuel Sherwood) i. Aug. 1753 ; Rachel b. 29. Feb. 1736, who m. Rev. 
Samuel Sherwood 6. June 1754. Mrs. Rachel Holmes Hide d. 30. Sept. 1736 in the 39'^ year of 
her age ; & John Hide next m. Abigail Adams 22 March 1737. John Hide d. 11 Jan. 1761. 

Joseph i. s. of John Hide 3. b. 1729, m. Betty Sherwood i. Aug. 1753. Their children 

were Elizabeth or Betsey b. 15 Dec. 1753, who m. Daniel Andrews ; John b. 17. Aug. 1755, who 
m. Abigail Jennings & had 3 daughters ; Salome b. 30. Aug. 1757, who m. Nathaniel Adams ; Joseph 
b. 3. Jan. 1761, who m. Arete Jesup ; Rachel b. 30. Oct. 1762, who m. Joseph Wakeman. Joseph 
Hide I. had a second wife Taniah Higgins. He d. 14. Aug. 1814. 

Joseph 2. s. of Joseph Hyde i. b. 3. Jan 1761, m. Arete Jesup, d. of Dr. Ebenezer Jesup. 

Their children were : Arete b. 6. Dec. 1791 ; Eleanor b. 17. Jan 1793, & d. Aug 1S57 ; John 

b. II. Jan 1795 & d. 1809 ; Myranda b. 8. Dec. 1796 ; Joseph b. 20. Sept. 1798, graduated 

at Yale College in 1820, & d. 14. Dec 1824 ; Ebenezer b. 27 July iSoo, and d. young ; Rachel b. 
13. June 1802 ; Edward b. i. March 1S04 ; William 18. r8o5 ; John S. b. 19. July 1807 ; 
Samuel b. 23. Feb 1809 ; a son b. & d. 13. April 181 1 ; Mary Augusta b. 12. July 1813.* 

HILL 

William Hill i. came to New England in the ship William & Francis June s^l" 1632. 
(Founder's of New England.) He was a man of note & first settled at Dorchester ; was made a 
freeman of the Mass. Col. 5 Nov. 1633, & a select man in 1636 : He was granted land at Dor- 
chester 2. Nov. 1635. He removed soon after to Windsor, Ct, where he was granted a home- 
lot & "and set out an orchard." In 1639 he was appointed by the Gen. Ct. to examine the arms 
& ammunition of the towns in the colony ; was also auditor of public accounts ; was elected deputy 
to' the Gen. Ct. from 1639 to 1641, & in 1644. He removed to F. soon after, & was chosen an 
assistant of the Gen. Ct., & appointed a collector of Customes. He & his son William were granted 
by the town home-lots between Paul's Neck & Robert Turney's home-lot, on the n. e. side of 
Dorcester St., & the Newton Square. He died in 1649, as his wife is in the Town Records at 
that time called a widow. His will is in the 2";? Vol. of the Records of the Particular Court at 
Hartford, & is dated 9. Sept 1649, & probated 15. May i65o.f In it he mentions his wife Sarah; 
& children Sarah, William, Joseph, Ignatius, James & Elizabeth. His d. Sarah m. Joseph 
Loomis 17. Sept. 1646. 

William 2. s. of William Hill i. was born in England, & called for several years after his 
father's death, W^ Hill jr. He was probably with his father in Dorchester & Windsor, & accom- 
panied him to F., where he was granted a home-lot between his father's & Paul's Neck. He 
became one of the most influential & useful citizens of the town. He was the town recorder in 
1650, & for several years after; & to him Roger Ludlow delivered town papers of value when he 
left F. in 1654. Mention is made in the records 1. Feb. 1673 of his having received his portion 
of his father's estate, from his father-in-law^ Greenleaf, which either indicates that he was twice m. 
or that said Greenleaf m. his mother. He was granted from the town 13. Feb 1670, the Lewis 
lot on the n. w. corner of the Newton Square. He died 19. Dec 1684. He m. in F. Elizabeth d. 
of the Rev. John Jones. Their children were : William, Eliphalet, Joseph, John, James & Sarah. 
Joseph d. in i6g6 childless. 

Sarah m. Richard Widden 15. April 1686. Their children were Elizabeth b. 19. Sept 1688 ; 
& Sarah 2g. Dec. 1689. Richard Widden died 24. Oct 1690. 

Eliphalet s. of William Hill 2. m, Esther d. of William Ward. Their children were 
William b. 17. Nov. 1692 & Eliphalet b. 11. Jan 1694-. The father died in 1695. 

* The dates & births were copied from a manuscript in the possession of Miss M. L. Hyde, d. of the late 
Deacon John Hyde of Green's Farms. 

t See boundaries of Thomas Jones home-lot in 1649. 



GENEALOGIES ' 379 

John m. Sarah d. of . Tlieir children were: Sarah bapt. 15. May 1701 ; & John 

29. June 1707. 

William 3. s. of William Hill 2. "was m. to Abigail d. of David Osborn of Eastchester 7. 
Oct. 1691, by Mr John Burr." Their children were Abigail b. 8, Jan 1694^ ; Joseph i, April 
1699 (F. T. Rec.) William bapt. 14. May 1699; William again, bapt 12, July 1702 ; David 7, 
April 1706 ; & Catherine 2. Jan. 1717. F. Par. Rec. 

This family have been noted for having been deacons in the Congregational church. 

Jabez s. of Deacon Hill 5. settled in Weston & m. Sarah d. of Col. John Read, after whom 
the parish of Ivcdding was named. 

Ebenezer Hill b. 20 Feb. 1768, lived & died in Fairfield, & was a Captain in the army of 
the Revolution. His son David b. 7. July 1766, studied for the ministry, & after preaching a few 
years, studied law & became Judge of the Court of Probate ; was frequently a member of the State 
Senate & legislature, & had the honor to be appointed one of a committee for revising the Consti- 
tution of the State. He also lived and died at F. 

Thomas Hill "the mariner" prob. s. of James Hill of Boston, m. Abigail the only d. of 
Izbon & Hannah Wakeman in 16S5 & the homestead " was divided between the mother & daughter 
by the middle of the chimney." He pur. in 16S6 in London one half of a vessel called " The Two 
Brothers" of 32 tons burden, for 73 £. While on his long voyages from home, he left his estate in 
trust with Elias Dougherty & Jacob Walker of L. L His children were Thomas ; Benjamin bapt. 
3, Nov. 1695, & no doubt others. 

Mrs. Hannah Wakeman, the wid. of Izbon W. entered into a marriage contract with Capt. 
Joseph Bastard, a mariner & a stranger ; & so long did he remain away from home on his voyages 
from F. , that the neighbors gossiped of his neglect & unfaithfulness to his wife, «& that he would 
spend all her money. About fourteen months after their mar. he entered a protest, & had it 
recorded in the town Records, against the neighbors " possessing his wife's mind" with such an 
idea ; & to remove all fears, & that his wife might not further be deluded with, by such reports, 
"out of the tenderness he bore her & his children by her," he made over his entire estate to the 
care of Major Nathan Gold & Mr. Jehue Burr, in trust for her use during her natural life. He died 
in 1697 leaving a handsome property. 

Thomas Hill 2, m. Maryd. of . Their children were : Abigail bapt. 5. June 1720; 

Thaddeus 26. June 1720; Mary. 11. Nov 1722; Mary 9. Aug. 1724 ; Elizabeth 9. Jan. 1726/7; 
Anne 11. May 1729 ; Thomas 12. Dec. 1731. F. Par. Rec. & G. Par. Rec. He is called Capt. 
in the G. H. Par. Rec. 

HUBBELL 

Hubball, Hubbill, Hubbell. Sergt. Richard Hubbell was born in England about 1627, & 
came to N. E. between 1640 & 1645. He took the oath of fidelity in the N. H. Colony on the 7. 
March 1645. In 1650— he m. "Elizabeth d. of John, & grand-daughter of Vincent Meigs of Dor- 
cetshire, England. Her grand-father Vincent Meigs was born in 1570, emigrated to America, 
& settled at Weymouth, Mass. was in N. H. in 1647 ; afterwards moved to Guilford, & finally 
settled at Killingworth, Ct. where he died in 1658." Richard Hubbell moved from N. H. to 
Guilford, Ct., & pur. land there 25. Feb. 1653. He was tried & fined for sedition in N. H. in 
1656 ; & when asked if he was sorry for giving his name to a seditious paper, he replied, " that it 
was only his desire to have what our law did allow, & no more." He soon after removed to F., 
where he was accepted to be made a freeman of the the town 13. Oct 1664 ; & was made a free- 
man 10 Oct. 1669. He settled n. w. of the plateau at Pequonnock & pur. the home-lot of Thomas 
Wheeler, sr. He became one of the leading men of F., & one of the most enterprising. He was 
one of the largest land holders in the town. His name is mentioned in the Fairfield Patent 
granted in 1685. Both he & his sons were brave & active men in the French & Indian wars, & his 



380 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD 

memory is honored & respected by his descendants, as one of the leading citizens of the town & 
colony. He died 23. Oct. 1699 aged about 72 years. By his wife Elizabeth Meigs, he had John 
b. about 1652 in N. H^j^ichard 1654 ; James 1656 who d. 2 Dec. of the same year. Samuel b. 6. 
Nov. 1657 ; Elizabeth 16. Nov. 1659 ; Ebenezer ; Mary all b. at Guilford ; Martha b. in F. Mrs. 
Elizabeth Hubbell died, & soon after Sergt. Richard H. m. a second wife, whose Christian name is 
not known ; but on her tomb-stone, in the old Stratford burying ground, her initials are E. H. & 
the date of her death in 1688. By this wife he had Samuel, Abigail, Sarah & James. The second 
wife died ; & Sergt. Richard again m. a third wife Abigail in 16S8, who was the widow of Joseph 
Walker of Stratford, Ct., & by her he had Joseph who d. in 1700, & John b. in April i6gi. Sergt 
Richard Hubbell died on the 23. of October, aged about 72 years. His tomb-stone is near that of 
his second wife in the old Burying Ground of Stratford, marked R. H. ; but the date of his death is 
obliterated with age. His will is dated 20. Nov. 1699 in which he confirmed to the heirs of his 
son John dec, & to his s. Richard, & s. Samuel sr., all lands &c ; formerly given them ; to s, Eben- 
ezer he gave 40 acres of his long-lot : to Richard as much of his long-lot as he could cultivate in 
ten years : to d. Elizabeth w. of Joseph Frost, besides her mar. dower 20^: to d. Mary w. of 
James Newton 50^: to d. Martha w. of Capt. John Wakeman, besides her mar. dower " one heavy 
piece of eight :" to s. Samuel jr., (for he had two sons named Samuel) over & above what he had 
already given him, as much of his long-lot as he could cultivate, not previously disposed of • to d. 
Abigail, w. of Samuel French, one cow, & 10^ after his wife's dec. out of his movable estate : to d. 
Sarah (who m. Deacon Josiah Stevens in 1699) 100^ in current provision pay : to s.'s James, 
Joseph & John all other lands not previously disposed of ; the use of the remainder of his estate he 
left to his wife Abigail during her natural life, who, with his son Samuel sr. , he made his execu- 
tors. To this will is attached his family seal of a bird holding an olive branch, which encircles the 
border of the seal. The inventory of his estate amounted to 816/. Abigail, the third wife of 
Sergt. Richard Hubbell, made her will 17. April 1688, & died early in Jan 1718. In her will she 
remembers her '-living son John Hubbell," & her son & two dau's, by her first husband, namely : 
Robert Walker, Abigail Bostwick & Joanna Odell. She left " 10 s. in money, towards buying a 
flagon for the Communion Table at Stratfield." 

Lieut. John i., s. of Sergt. Richard Hubbell i. settled at Stratford &m. Patience . Their 

children were Margery b. 1681 ; Richard 25, Jan. 16S4 ; Josiah 1688. — He was one of the sol- 
diers from F. engaged in the French & Indian war. In consideration of his loss of one of his 
fingers, while in an engagement, the Gen. Ct. awarded him 13. May 1678, 100 acres of land. On 
the 20. of April 1690, he was commissioned by Gov. Robert Treat Lieut, of a foot company, under 
Capt. Ebenezer Johnson of Stratford, for the protection of Albany. While stationed near Albany 
he died of small-pox, & was buried in full uniform. A stone bearing his initials, & the date of his 
death 1690, marked his grave. The Indians disinterred his body, & appropriated his uniform, 
which spread the loathsome disease among them to such an extent, that about half the tribe were 
cut off. Lieut John Hubbell was thus said to have slain more enemies of the country after his 
death, than during his life ; whicli horrible catastrophe was the occasion of many sermons by the 
clergy of the colony.* His widow m. Samuel Hawley of Stratford. 

Lieut. Richard 2. s. of Sergt Richard Hubbell i. settled at Stratfield. He was one of the 
active nine applicants for forming the East Farmers of F. into a parish ; & was a wealthy & 
influential planter of the town & colony. He m. Rebecca d. of Samuel & Rebecca Morehouse 5. 
Nov. 1685. Their children were : Peter b. 10. Aug. 1686 ; Ebenezer 19. Sept. 1687 ; Elizabeth 
23. Oct. 1689, & m. Nathan Beardsley ; Jonathan 25. March 1692. Mrs. Richard Hubbell died 2. 
April 1692. Richard Hubbell next m. Hannah Silloway of Maiden, Mass. by Major Gold 12. 
Oct. i692_ Their children were : Zechariah b. 26. Aug. 1994 ; Richard 20. Oct. 1696 ;• Han- 
nah 7. July 169S ; Eleazer 15. Aug. 1700 ; Nathaniel 11. Aug. 1702 ; Margery 17. Jan. 1705 ; 



* Hist, of the Hubbell Family by Walter Hubbell. ■( 



^ 






GENEALOGIES 38 1 

Abigail 23. Sept. 1700. He died in 1838. His will is dated 12. Nov. 1734, leaving a large estate 
of 284?;^. His eldest s. Peter settled at Newton, to whom he gave, beside other estate, " 3 of 
his copper-mine, situated a little below ye Pine Swamp & ye upper ends of Stratfield bounds." 
The other third he gave to Richard Whitney. He left his house & home-lot, which had been his 
father's homestead, to his s. Zachariah. His son Nathaniel was educated & settled as a minister 
in New Jersey. He willed his silver tankard to the Church of Christ in Stratfield. This tankard 
is a very handsome piece of solid silver, & is an elegant piece of workmanship. It is still in use 
in the First Congregational Church at Bridgeport. On one side is engraved : " Left. Richard 
Hubbell's Gift to the Church of Christ in Stratfield. A. D. 1738." 

Lieut. Samufx i. s. of Richard Hubbell i. & called in his father's will sr., settled at Strat- 
field, was the Recorder there & Parish Clark from 1694 to 1713. He m. Elizabeth Wilson 4. 
April 1687 & had s. Benoni b. 29. Dec. 1687. The mother died 20. Jan. 16S8. Samuel i. next 
m. Temperance Preston 17, April 1688, & had Elizabeth b. 29. Dec. 1688, & died 4. Jan. 1688- ; 
Jehiel 27. Jan. 1689, & died 3. May 1693 ; Daniel 8. Aug. i6gi ; Catherine il. March 1695, & 
died 19. Dec. 1697 ; Ephraim 11. Oct. 1694 ; Stephen 16. Feb. 1695^; David i. July 1698 ; Abiel 
15. Jan. 1699, & died 3 March the same yr Tabitha 24 Dec. 1700, & m. James Bennet jr ; 
Joseph 29. Oct. 1702. "Stratfield Society Book." 

Ebenezer, s. of Richard Hubbell i. settled at New London & m. Mary d. of Gabriel Harris. 
Their children were Elizabeth b. 1693 ; Ebenezer 1695, & died 1720 (Cauthren's Hist. New 
London p. 338.) Ebenezer the father died 1698. 

Samuel jr. s. of Richard Hubbell 2. settled at Fairfield & m. Elizabeth d. of Their 

children were Hannah bapt. 19. May 1695 ; Nathan 3. Dec, 1699, died 6. Feb. 1761 ; Eunice 
bapt. 21 March 1703 ; Abigail bapt. 15. July 1705 ; Olive 15. Feb. 1707/8 & m. Joseph Bradley 
(she was the great grand mother of Justice Joseph P. Bradley of the U. S. Sup. Ct.) ; David, bapt. 
2. Sept. 1711 & m. Martha ; Samuel bapt. 30. May 1714. F. Par. Rec. 

James i. s. of Richard Hubbell i. first settled at Stratfield, then moved to Stratford, & 

finally with his son Andrew to Easton Ct. He m. Patience Their children were Andrew b. 

22. July 1706, died 1777 ; Abiah 11 Aug 1708 ; Sarah 12 Sept 1711 ; Elnathan 22. Sept. 1717 ; 
Patience 8 April 1722 ; Stratford T. Rec. & Stratfield Society Book. 

Joseph I., son of Richard Hubbell i., died in 1700 before in reachinjj the age of 21. His 
guardian was David Sherman of Stratfield. 

John i. s. of Richard Hubbell i. settled at Stratford, m. Anne Wells b. Nov. 171 1. Their 
children were Jerusha bapt. 14 June 1713 ; Benjamin b. 1717, died 24 Feb. 1793; & John, who 
was accidentally shot by his brother Benjamin while deer hunting.* 

HULL 
George Hull was at Dorchester 1630, & probably came with Ludlow's company in the ship 
Mary and John. He was made a freeman of Mass, Marcli 4'^ 1633, & a deputy of the Gen. Ct. 
May 14'.*} 1634. He removed to Windsor v.ith Ludlow's company, & was chosen deputy for that 
town from 1637 to 46. Ho then removed to F.,&was granted a home-lot of 6 acres from the 
town. He was frequently a deputy to the Gen. Court. Most of his children were born in England, 
& the name of his first wife is not known. His second wife was Sarah, widow of David Phippen 
of Boston, whom he m. in 1654. His will is dated Aug. 25'.^ 1659, in which year he died. In it 
he mentions children Josiah, Cornelius, Elizabeth, Mary (who m. Humphrey Pinney) Martha & 
Naomi, also cousin i.e. niece Jane Pinkney. His widow made her will the same month, in which 
she gtive her house in Boston to her children, Benjamin, Joseph, Gamaliel, George, Pvcbecca 

* A valuable history of the Hubbell Family has been compiled by Walter Hubbell Esqr. of Philadelphia; 
published by J. H. Hubbell & Co., 407 & 409 Broadway N. Y. 1S81. 



382 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD 

Vickers & Sarah Tow; & names cousins i.e. neph. Philip Pinkney, & cousin Jane Pinkney. F. 
Prob. Rec 

^JosiAH, probably s. of George Hull l. settled at Windsor, & m. 20. May 1641 Elizabeth d. of 
Josepii~~i3emis^ Their children were Josiah b. Sept. 1642; John 17. Dec. 1644; Elizabeth 18. 
Feb. 1647 ; Mary 2. Oct. 1648 ; Martha 10. June 1550 ; Joseph 10. Aug 1652 ; Sarah 9. Aug 
1654 i Naomi Feb 17. 1657 ; Rebecca 10. Aug. 1659 ; George 28. April 1662, who died early ; & 
Thomas 29. May 1665. He represented Windsor in 1659, ^°' & ^2. He removed to Killingworth, 
which he represented 1667-1670 & many years after ; & died 16 Nov 1675. His d. Naomi m. 
4. Jan. 1677 Thomas Burnham 2. of Windsor. Sav. Gen. Die. 

Cornelius i. s. of George Hull i. b. in England in 1626, accompanied his father to F., & 
was granted a home-lot of 3 acres, adjoining that of his father's. He m. Rebecca d. of the Rev. 
John Jones. His will is dated 16. Sept 1695, in which he mentions his children Samuel, 
Cornelius, Theophilus, Rebecca, Sarah w. of Robert Silliman ; & Martha w. of Cornelius Liston 
(Risden). 

Samuel i. s. of Cornelius Hull i. m., first Deborah d. of James Beers i., by whom he had 
Samuel, bapt. 26 April i6g6. By his second wife Elizabeth d. of Sergt. Richard Hubbell i . & 
widow of Joseph Frost, he had Cornelius bapt. 23. June 1700; Josiah 12. April 1702 ; & Sarah 
28. March 1704. F. Par. Rec. 

Cornelius 2. s. of Cornelius Hull i., m. x Sarah d. of Ezekiel Sandford i, ; & settled at Hull's 
Farms. Their children were Sarah & Rebecca bapt. 26. Aug. 1694 ; x Nathaniel 7. April 1695 ; 

Ebenezer 20. Jan 1697 ; Elizabeth 15. Oct. 1699 ; Martha 13. July 1701 ; x John Ebenezer 

15. Sept. 1706; Cornelius 14. May 1710. G. H. Par. Rec. 

George 2. s. of George Hull i. m d. of Their children were Abigail bapt. i. June 

1712 ; Mary 12 July 1713 ; Joseph g Oct 1715 ; Abigail 4 June 1721 ; Thaddeus 14 April 1723. 
F. Par. Rec. 

Theophilus i. s. of Cornelius Hull i. m. Mary d. of Ezekiel Sanford i. & settled at Green- 
field. Their children were Mary & Anne bapt. 26. Aug 1694 ; Theophilus 23. May 1697 : Eli- 
phalet 30. March 1701 ; John 2. April 1704 ; Jabez 10. Feb 1705'^ Lydia 26. Feb 1720^- ; Mary 
22. Sept 1723. F & G. H. Par. Rec. 

Nathaniel i. s. of Cornelius Hull 2. b. March 1695 m. Elizabeth d. of (b. 12. April 

1696). Their children were x Sarah b. 8. Nov 1717 ; Elizabeth 2. Aug. 1719 ; Hester 11. June 
1 72 1 ; Stephen 25. July 1724 ; Nathaniel 25. Feb. 1726- ; x Peter 15. Nov. 1728 ; Sarah 20. Dec. 
1730 ; Ezekiel 12. Oct. 1732 ; x David 10. Dec. 1734: Aaron 11. Sept. 1736 ; Silas 15. June 1739 ; 
Hannah 20. Jan. 1744. G. H. Par. Rec. , 

X Eliphalet I. s. of Theophilus Hull i. bapt. 30. March 1701, m. Sarah (b. 27 Feb 

1704) d. of . Their children were Miriam b. 20, Dec. 1724 ; Sarah 10. May 1726 ; Seth 23. 

Feb. 1728^ ; Ruth 27, March 1730; John 2S. March 1732 ; Daniel 15, May 1734 ; Mary 28. March 
1736. G. H. Par. Rec. 

JACKSON 

Henry Jackson was probably the man »who came in the ship Elizabeth & Ann in 1635, 
aged 29, having taken the oath of allegiance & supremacy to the crown, & brought a certificate 
from the minister & Justice the Peace, in the place he i^esided in England, (not mentioned) of his 
conformity to the Church of England, & that he was no subsidy man. (Hotten's List of Emi- 
grants to America.) In the same ship came Robert Hawkins, Nicholas St. John, & several of the 
Whitney family. He was at Watertown in 1637, & was, says Savage, "one of the lessees of the 
fishing grounds of that place." He was at F. in 1648, where Feb. 2, 1648-, he made an agree- 
ment with the town to erect a grist-mill on the stream, running, into the west side of the Uncoway 
River, which he sold in 1653, to Samuel Morehouse. His home-lot was bounded n.w. with Nathan 



GENEALOGIES 383 

Gold's pasture-lot, n.e. the Uncoway mill-creek at high water-mark, s.e. highway, & s.w. with his 
own land. He lemoved after selling the mill, to Pequonnock & purchased, the house & home-lot 
of Thomas Wheeler jr. He was made a freeman 10. Oct. 1669 & was one of the dividend land 
holders of the town. His will is dated 11. Nov 1682, in which he provides for a wife (Christian 
name not mentioned; ; to s. Moses housing & Ludlow's lot, except one acre at Pequonnock, land 
in Uncoway Indian Fields; \ of his pasture-lot, building-lot & long-lot; to the children of his 
deceased d. Hannah, who had m, Philip Gaipin, 5;;^. each when of age ; to s. Samuell land previously 
deeded him, several parcels of land & 4 of his pasture-lot, building-lot & long-lot ; to grand-son 
Moses Jackson 4 acres at Try's Field, bounded n.w. with highway that goes through the field; s.w. 
John Roots, s.e. the Indian Field, n.e. land that was Richard Fowles, also his Compo allotment ; 
to s. John i of his pasture-lot, building-lot & long lot ; to his grand-son Samuel Jackson, his loom 
& "all things thereto belonging; & to his wife his best feather-bed & bedstead, curtains & val- 
ance, & all the furniture thereto belonging ; the bigest kettle and his house in town, & the least 
kettle, the middle iron-pot, the bell-metal skillet, the red cow & her calf, also the third part of his 
pewter dishes, spoons, & beer-vessels in his house at Pequonnock, the great chest & her own 
chests, the use of housing & lands at town, with its table, stools & chairs, with any other of the 
house-hold estate, except the axe, that is commonly called Dina's axe,", i of table linen, & if left 
alone, the old, negro womanto care for her; & 6;^. per annum from sons Moses & Samuel; to s. Joseph's 
five children, under the guardianship of s. Samuel 5;^, each of them to receive 20= when of age ; 
to Major Nathan Gold & Josiah Harvey, as over-seers of his estate 20;^. Upon the death of his 
wife the house at F. & all things belonging to it, were to be divided between his s. Joseph's five 
children, allowing the eldest son a double portion. He requests that the share of his s. Joseph's 
widow in her father-in-law George Goodwin's estate, be paid over to the estate of Joseph's children. 
He entailed all his estate to his surviving male heirs, in case of the death of any one of his sons. 

Samuel i. s. of Henry Jackson i. m. d. of Their children were Samuel b. ; 

Nathaniel 6. March 167 — ; Hannah 17. March 167 — , (the last figures are obliterated with age of 
book A. F. T. D.) 

Moses I. s. of Henry Jackson i. m. Deborah d. of John Hide i., 24. Oct. 1672. Their 
children were Rebecca b. 10. May 1674 ; Deborah 8. Feb. 1678. F. T. Rec. 

Joseph s. of Heniy Jackson i. m. first d. of Lieut. Nathaniel Seeley, & second, a d. of 

George Goodwin i. of F. , by whom he had five children & d. young, leaving s. Joseph & two minor 
children, Abigail & Eleanor. — He may have left older children. 

John s. of Henry Jackson i. entered into a contract with the town of F. to build a corn & 
fulling mill 6. Jan. 1686. over the Uncoway River, at the present time known as Moody's Mill, near 
Mountain Grove Cemetery at Bridgeport. He was granted 8 acres of land on the north side of 
the mill, & two acres on the east side of the river & highway. 

Ephraim Jackson (b. Oct. 1704) & Martha Couch were m. Nov. 1727, & had son Joseph b. 
Nov. 1728. He m. second wife Martha Blackman June 1730, sd. Martha was b. Oct. 1708. 
Their children were Martha b. 8 Sept. 1731 ; Daniel 16 May 1733 ; David 28. Oct. 1736, Ephraim 
10 Sept. 1741. 

Mary Jackson of Newark, presented a letter to the first Congregational Church of Pequonnock. 
which was accepted 20. Dec. 1697. - 

JENNINGS 

Joshua Jenning's name appears at Hartford in 1648. A great deal has been said in a blind 
way about his misconduct at Plartford, by writers who might far better have told precisely what 
he did to incur the displeasure of the Court, which was as follows ■ At a Particular Court held at 
Hartford 6. Sept. 1649, "Joshua Jennings for not watching one night, & other ill carriage to 
the Constable, is to pay to the watchman in his room, & is fined 2'. 6"^." On the 3. of Nov. 



384 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD 

1650 he again fell under the displeasure of the Court. It appears that he fled on 1)0ard a ship 
lying in the Connecticut river from the fine imposed upon him, for which the Court fined Greenfell 
Lerreby 5;^. & Stephen Daniels 40^., for conveying him from the power of authority. They were 
also ordered to deliver him up to authority, if he came on board their ship again. He settled at F. 
before 1656, where he always maintained an excellent reputation. He lived at Barlows Plain, & 
died leaving a good estate. He m. at Hartford 22 Dec. 1647 Mary Williams. He died in 1675. 
Ihe date of his will is the 25. of Feb. 1674-- of the same year. He left wife Mary, to whom he 
gave a large part of his estate ; son Joshua, to whom he left his carpenter, joiners, wheel-right & 
farmers tools ; & divided the remainder of his estate between his sons & daughters, namely, 
Joshua, Joseph, Michael, John, Samuel, Matthew & Isaac ; & daughters Mary & Elizabeth. His 
widow Mary m. George Slavvson of Stamford 16 Dec. 1680. 

JosHU.\ 2. s. of Joshua Jennings i. was not bapt. until I.June 1712. Hem. d. of 

Samuel Lyon. Their children were Mary, who m. Daniel Burr, Hannah m. Peter Sturgis, Abigail 
who m. Simon Couch & Moses bapt. 26 Dec 1714, & probably other children. The family of 
Joshua Jennings settled at Greens Farms. 

Joseph s. of Joshua Jennings i. m. Abigail d. of Robert Turney. Their children were Eben- 
ezer & Abigail bapt. 2S. Oct 1694. His second w. was Sarah d. of Thomas Bulkley. Sarah bapt. 
22. Aug. 1697 ; Joseph 14. Mqy i6g8 ; Martha 11. Aug 1700 ; Anne 12. March 1703A ; Gershom 
12. March 1709—. 

Samuel s. of Joshua Jennings i. m. Sarah d. of Michael Grumman. Their children were 
Michael bapt. 9, Sept. 1694 ; Ehzabeth 7, March 1696- ; Patience 25, Sept 1698 ; Sarah 11, Feb. 
iGggllil^ who m. Daniel Lyon ; Samuel 22, March 1701^; Eunice 21, Jan 1704- ; Dorothy 14, 
Sept. 1707 ; Dorothy again 13, Nov. 1709; Nathan 18, May 1710-!— ; Benjamin 20, Sept 1713. 
Will dated 1728. 

Matthew s. of Joshua Jennings i., m. d. of Their children were Matthew 

bapt. 5, Sept. 1697 ; Elizabeth 31, Oct. 1697; Daniel 7, April 1700; Jeremiah 11, April 1703 ; 
Mary 19, Aug 1705 ; Ruth 11, April 170S ; Hannah 10, July 1720. 

Isaac s. of Joshua Jennings i. m. d. of Joseph Beers. Their children were Isaac bapt. 

II, Oct 1702 ; Mary 19, Aug 1705, who m. Smith; John 11, May 1707 ; Josiah 27, May 

1711 ; David 31, Oct 1714. His will is dated June 10, 1746, the day of his death. His tomb 
stone at F., makes him 73 yrs. of age. 

John s. of Joshua Jennings i. m. d. of Their children were John bapt. 12, 

May 1717 ; Nehemiah 20, July 171S ; Zechariah 22, Jan 1720—; Sarah 16, June 1723 ; Anne i. 
Aug 1725 ; Hester 16 July 1727 ; Nehemiah 3. Aug 1729 ; Ephraim 26. Sept 1731 ; Hezekiah 7. 
Oct 1733 ; Abel 14. Dec. 1735. 

Michael i. s. of Samuel Jennings i., m. Elizabeth d. of Their children were: Elizabeth 

& Hannah bapt. 20, Dec. 1719 ; Obedience 28, Aug. 1720 & perhaps others. 

Jeremiah i. s. of Mathew Jennings i., m. Elizabeth d. of Their children were: Eliza- 
beth bapt 22. Oct. 1727 ; Sarah 14. May 1732 ; Ruth 21. March 1735 « ; Sarah 6. Aug. 1738 ; Jere- 
miah 21. Sept. 1743 ; Peter 12. June 1743. 

Isaac 2. s. of Isaac Jennings i. m. Phebe d. of Their children were : Abigail 

bapt. 14. Sept. 1729; Seth 2. Jan. 1731 '2 ; Moses 19. Aug. 1733; Levi Nov. 1735 ; Lucretia 
16. Oct. 1737 ; Jacob 9. Dec. 1739 ; Hannah 16. June 1745 ; Ellen 22. Nov. 1747. Isaac Jen- 
nings 2. made his will Jan. 20. 1758 giving his property to his wid. Phebe, to his grand daughter 
Esther, d. Lucretia, & to his five sons. He d. 6. March 1760, aged 58; & his will was proved on 
the 27. of March following. His grand daughter Esther was ad. of his son Seth, & was the grand- 
mother of Mrs. Esther Huntington & her brother Morris Lyon of F. Mrs. Huntington is known 
at the present day, as the leading spirit in matters of historical interest in F. ; & her honored 
brother, Morris Lyon, is the founder of the valualuable Fairfield Library. — Lucretia, d. of the 



GENEALOGIES 385 

above Isaac 2. was the srrandmother of the lale Frederick Marquand of Southport, & of his brother 
Henry Marquand of New York city. Frederick Marquand erected the Marquand Chapel of Yale 
College. He gave a fine library & building for its use at Southport, besides other liberal gifts else- 
where. Henry Marquand is widely known for his munificent art donations to the Metropolitan 
Museum of Art in New York City. 

IsA.\c 3 s of Isaac Jennings 2., d. Jan. g. 1S19, aged 75 yrs. Ilis children were Elizabeth, 
Abigail, Phebe, Abraham Gould Jennings of Brooklyn, Anna, Isaac 4. Seth & Polly. The repre- 
sentatives of this last Isaac 4 Jennings at Fairfield, are Oliver Burr Jennings, & Charles Buelkley 
Jennings s. of the late Hon. Isaac Jennings. 

The heirs of Joshua Jennings i. for many years made fruitless efforts to establish a lawful 
claim to the vast estate of William Jennings of Acton Place, born in 1701 & who d. 19 June 1798, 
leaving estates in eleven counties in England, & millions in pounds sterling in nearly all the banks 
of London To establish .such a claim, & to link the heirs of Joshua Jennings, who d. in 1675, 
with William Jennings of Acton place who d, in 1798, would be a remarkably undertaking. 
The property of this rich William Jennings was claimed in par'., by the Baroness Howe, a 
daughter of the celebrated Admiral Howe, through a claim of intermarriage with the Jennings 
family with that of Curzens. The Earl Beuchamp (or Becham), also claimed heirship. Some 
clue in this way, may be given to Robert Beacham or Beuchamp of early Greens Farms. This 
William Jennings was the only child of Robert Jennens & Ann daughter & heir of Carew Guidott 
Esqr. of Hampshire, while Robert J. was the fifth son & heir of Humphrey Jennens, an iron 
master of Birmingham Eng. who married Mary Milward. This William Jennings was at one time 
a page to King William III, who was his godfather. He was also a nephew of Sarah 
Jennings, a maid of honor & the favorite of Queen Ann, who married the great Duke of Marl- 
borough. 

No record of the birth Joshua Jennings or of his parentage, has ever been found in Eng- 
land or America. 

The descendents of Joshua Jennings settled at Fairfield, Pequonnock, Green's Farms, Green- 
field & throughout the county of F., & are to be found in almost every state of the Union, until 
they have become in numbers like the sands upon the sea shore. Many distinguished men & 
women belong to this family, among whom was Capt. Nathan Jennings of Fairfield Woods, 
whose daughter Mary m. the late Commodore Reid of the United States Navy, & who was one of 
twenty ladies to embroider and make the first flag, with its stars & stripes, of the United 
States. Mrs. R«id^was also the mother of Madam de Cesnola, the wife of the distinguished 
General de Cesnola, President of the Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City 

Francis A. White, the president of the Danbury & Boston R.R. Co. is also a descendent 
of this family, his mother having been Marietta d. of John Jennings 2. as follows : 

John 2. s. of John Jennings i. m Sarah who resided at Greenfield. Their children 

were Thaddeus, b. 31. Aug. 1732, Aaron b. 31. Sept. 1734, Susan b. 28. March 1741, Mary b. 5. 
Dec. 1743. David b. 27. June 1746, Josiah b. 15: Sept. 1748, Sarah b. 14. April 1751, Joel b. 13 
July 1753 — G. H. Par Rec. 

Thaddeus 2. s of Thaddeus Jennings i., b. 31. Aug. 1732, m. Lavinia Burrit of New 
Haven. Their children were Burrit b. 14. Jan. 1759, Appollina b. 8. March 1761, Philoman 
b. 27. March 1763, Sylvinus b. 5. May 1765, Thaddeus b. 21. June 1767.— G. H. Par. Rec. 
— Besides the above he had ds. Susan & Polly. 

Phileman I. s. of Thaddeus Jennings 2., m. Beach, & had the following children 

Beach, Charles, Maritta & Ann. Marietta Jennings m. Elijah White of Franklin Del. Co. N. Y. 
in 1819, & had five children as follows : Maria H., Francis A., Charles J., Ann Eliza & George F. 
Francis A. White is a descendant of Peregrine White, who was born on the ship Mayflower in 1620. 
25 



386 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD 

THE JESUP OR JESSUP FAMILY 

BY PROFESSOR HENRY G. JESUP, OF DARTMOUTH COLLEGE 

Edward Jessup, the ancestor of the Fairfield family of this name, was an Englishman, and 
probably from Yorkshire. He was a citizen of Stamford in 1649. Earlier than this he may have 
been in Fairfield, as the town records show that in 1653 he sold land on Sasco Neck. In 656 he 
had removed to Middleborough (Newtown) Long Island, where he was a magistrate under the 
Dutch Government from 1659 to 1662. Subsequentl)' he became one of the original patentees of 
West Farms, Westchester Co., N. Y. In 1663 the Connecticut colony, which claimed jurisdiction, 
appointed him "Commissioner" (magistrate) for the town of Westchester, and again in 1664, 
while in 1665 he represented the same town at a meeting of deputies convened at Hempstead, 
L. I., by Gov. Nicolls of N. Y. His will bears date 6 Aug., 1666, the year of his death, and is 
one of the earliest English wills recorded in New York city. 

His wife'3 name was Elizabeth, presumably the sister of John Burroughs of Newtown, to 
whom he refers in his will as his " beloved brother-in-law," and who for many years was clerk of 
that town, where his descendants are still found. In 1668, the widow married Robert Beacham 
(Beauchamp) of Fairfield and removed there with her two younger children. They lived in the 
present parish of Green's Farms, then called Bankside, and now within the town of Westport. 

The children of Edward and Elizabeth Jessup were three : 

1. Elizabeth, who before 1666 married Thomas Hunt, Jr., the son of Thomas Hunt of 
Westchester, N. Y. They had four sons and three daughters and from them descend the Hunts 
of Hnnt's Point in the same town. The late Justice Ward Hunt of the United States Supreme 
Court, was of this family, as also his kinsman Hon. James B. Hunt, member of Congress from 
Michigan 1853-1857. (See Hunt Genealogy.) 

2. Hannah who raa.xi\ed Joseph (perhaps Joseph Lockwood, Beacham's son-in-law) and 

lived in Green's Farms, and died before the mother. 

3. Edward, born in 1663, who came to Fairfield when five years old, and through whom 
the name has been perpetuated to the present time. 

Edward Jessup above, of the second generation, in 1692 married Elizabeth Hide, grand- 
daughter of Humphrey Hide of Fairfield, and their descendants are very numerous and widely 
scattered throughout the country. About 1720 they both removed to Stamford, where they died. 
They lie buried in an old cemetery near Noroton river, now within the town of Darien. 

Their children were nine, all born in Green's Farms : 

1. Elizabeth, born 11 Feb., 1693, married yo>^« Smith, and lived near Greenfield Hill. 
They had eleven children, seven of them sons. 

2. Hannah marxiQA John, son of Jotiathan Reynolds, and lived in Greenwich. 

3. Abilena, baptized 13 Sept., 1696, married John Darling of Fairfield, and lived near Green- 
field Hill. They had four sons and one daughter. 

4 Edward, baptized 7 March, 1697, took the homestead farm, when his father went to Stam- 
ford. He was known as " Capt. Edward," and married, 7 Dec, 1724, Sarah Blackleach, daughter 
of Richard Blackleach of Stratford. I'hey had seven children. Of the two sons Blackleach Jesup 
of Wilton was three times married, and the father of nineteen children. He was the ancestor of 
Major-General Thomas S. Jesup, U. S. A. (a grandson). Col. Samuel Blackleach Jesup of Ken- 
tucky, and Mrs. Elizabeth Jesup Fames, the poetess. Edward C. Delavan Esqr. of New York 
city (Yale College, class 1836), is a grandson. 

The second son. Dr. Ebenezer Jesup (Y. C. class of 1760), was a physician of repute. He 
succeeded to the homestead in Green's Farms, which was afterwards destroyed at the burning of 
Fairfield by the British in 1779. He was a surgeon in the Revolution, a Justice of the Peace, an 
officer in the Green's Farms Church for many years, and greatly respected. Like his brother, he 



GENEALOGIES 387 

also was thrice married ; 1st. to Eleanor Andrews, 2d. Abigail Squire, 3d. Anna Wyncoop. He 
had eleven children. The late Major Ebenezer Jesup of Westport was his son, and the village of 
Saugatuck, which preceded the town organization, was largely the result of his energy and busi- 
ness enterprise. James R. Jesup Esqr. (Y. C. 1840', a lawyer, and Morris K. Jesup Esqr., 
banker. President of the Museum of Natural History, etc., both of New York city, are great-grand 
children, as was also Hon. Edward Jesup Wood, Judge of the Supreme Court of Indiana. 

Through the daughters of Capt. Edward, there is an extensive connection with families of 
olher and well known Fairfield names. " Jesup" as a Christian name occurs in no less than nine 
families. Judge Jesup Couch of Ohio (Y. C. 1802), Major-General Darius Nash Couch of Nor- 
walk. Horace Staples Esqr. of Westport, and Hon. Jedd P. C. Cottrill (University of Vt. 1852), a 
distinguished lawyer in Milwaukee, Wis., are descendants of Elizabeth Jesup, the sister of Black- 
leach and Dr. Ebenezer above mentioned. Another sister married Stephen Wakeman (Y. C. 
1738), whose descendants are still numerous and influential in the town. 

5. Joseph, baptized 4 July, 1699, married Abigail James and lived in Stamford, and subse- 
quently in Dutchess Co., N. Y. His three sons, Edward, Joseph and Ebenezer, settled in Albany 
Co. in that state. They were mtn of education and the friends of Sir Wm. Johnson, and received 
from the colonial government of New York, very large grants of land located near the head waters 
of the Hudson river. Jessup's Falls and Jessup's Landing near Luzerne were named for them. 
This family were loyalists, and about 1777 removed to Canada, where Joseph the father soon 
after died In Montreal. All the sons were officers in Gen. Burgoyne's army. The late James 
Jessup Esqr. of Brockville, lawyer and member of the Dominion Parliament, was a grandson of 
Major Edward Jessup. Another grandson is Dr. Hamilton Dibble Jessup, for many years Col- 
lector of Customs at Prescott, Ont. Among the descendants of Col. Ebenezer Jessup are Admiral 
Sir Wm. N. W. Hewett, V. C. of the English Navy, and his brothers. Major J. M. M. Hewett 
of the English Army, and Edward Hyde Hewett Esqr., Consul at Fernando Po. 

6. Deborah, baptized 12 July, 1702, married Obadiah Stevens and lived in Middlesex, now 
Darien. 

7. Jonathan, born 3 Aug., 1707, and lived in Greenwich. His wife's name was Sarah, and 
they had eight children (six sons), and a very numerous posterity. Rufus A. Lockwood of 
Indiana, whose real name was Jonathan Trumbull Jessup, a brilliant but eccentric lawyer, was of 
this branch of the family, as are also Charles A. Jessup, M.D. of St. Louis, Mo., W'm. H. Webb 
of New York city, the ship builder, and Luke A. Lockwood Esqr. of Greenwich ^ Trinity College 
1855), a member of the New York Bar, and a trustee of his college. 

8. Sarah, baptized 15 March, 1713, married Lieut. Jonathan Dibble of New York city and 
afterwards of Stamford. They had one son (George) and four daughters. Two of these daughters 
married their cousins Major Edward and Col. Ebenezer Jessup the loyalists. Col. George E. 
Waring Jr. of Washington, D. C, the civil engineer and author, and James B. Cooper Esq. of 
Babylon N. Y. belong here. 

9 Ebenezer, baptized 15 March, 1714, a sea-captain, who made many voyages, and died at 
Stamford, unmarried. 

The later generations have largely emigrated from the State of Connecticut, and found homes 
in New York, Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, Kentucky, Washington, D. C, the Pacific states, Canada, 
etc. (See Genealogy of the Family). 

JONES 

JOANES, Jones. — But little is known of the history of the Rev. John Joanes who became the 
first minister of F. in 1644. Some writers state that he was the son of the Rev. W"?? Jones of 
Abergarveny, in Monmouthshire, Wales; but this account, as well as the statement that he was 
matriculated at Jesus College, Cambridge 30. April 1624 at the age of 17, is disputed by writers of 



388 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD 

the present day. He, however, had been educated, & regularly ordained a clergyman of the 
Church of England. He married in the mother country, & had several children born there. 
He settled at Concord, Mass., & on the 6. April 1637, was ordained pastor of the Congregational 
Church, gathered there July 1636. At the same time the Rev. Peter Buckley vi'as ordained 
teacher. Both gentlemen, before their oidination, were called upon to renounce their Episcopal 
vows, and express regret that they had ever been ministers in the Church of England ; which harsh 
-requirement, was the cause of a considerable comment among the magistrates & ministers of the 
colonies.* The feelings of those who had been silenced for non-conformity, were in some cases 
very bitter. Soon difficulty arose about the support of two ministers ; & great dissatisfaction 
prevailed in the settlement in regard to barren soil, «&; marshy land. Man^ emigrated to other 
plantations ; & as some turned their faces towards Fairfield, Mr. Joanes resolved to join the 
latter company & view the beautiful country, of which such glowing accounts had been given 
him. 

Cotton Mather divided the first ministers of New England into three classes ; i. those who 
were "in the actual exercise of their ministry when they left Ejtgland, & were the instruments of 
bringing the gospel into the wilderness ;"' 2. young scholars whose education for their designed 
ministry, not Ijeing finished, yet came from England \fith their friends, & had their education per- 
fected in this country ; 3. '' all such ministers as came over to New England, after the re-estab- 
lishment of the Episcopal-church-government in Etigland, & the persecution which then hurricanoed 
such as were non-conformists unto the establishment." f Mr. Joanes is ranked among those of the 
first class, " The occasion," continues Mr. Mather, " upon which those excellent ministers retired 
into a horrid wilderness of America^ was the violent persecutions, wherewith a prevailing party in 
the Church of England harrassed them. In their own land they were hereby deprived, not only of 
their livings, but also of their liberty, to exercise their ministry, which was dearer to them than 
their livings, yea, than their very lives : & they were exposed unto extreme sufferings, because 
they conscientiously dissented from the use of some things in the worship of God, which they 
accounted sin." 

" Some of the ininisters, & many of the gentlemen that came over viith the ministers, were 
persons of considerable estates ; who therewith charitably brought over m3.nY poor-families of godly 
people, that were not of themselves able to bear the charges of their transportation ; & they were 
generally careful also to bring over none but godly servants in their own families, who afterwards 
by God's blessing on their industry have arrived, many of them, unto such pleasant estates, that 
they have had occasion to think of the advice, which a famous person, gave in a public sermon, at 
their first coming over; ''you (said he) that are servants, mark what I say ; I desire qj' exhort 
yju to be kind awhile hence, unto your master's children. It wont be long before, you that came with 
nothing into the country, will be rich tnen, when your masters, having buried their rich estates in the 
country, will go near to leave their families in a meati conditioti ; wherefore when if shall be well 
with you. l charge you to remember them. ^' 

* Shattuck's Hist. Concord, & Lechford's Plain Dealing. 

t Cotton Mather mentions a fourth class of ministers, whom he ranks under the head of ajiomalics 0/ New 
England, of whom he confesses that some of them deserve to live in his book for their piety ; "although their 
peculiar opinions, were such as to be disserviceablc unto the declared & supposed interests of our churches. . . . 
There were also some godly Episcopalians ; among whom has been commonly reckoned Mr. Blackstone, who by 
happening to sleep first in an hovel, upon a point of land there, laid claim to all the grounds, whereupon now 
stands the metropolis of the whole English America, until the inhabitants gave him satisfaction. This man was 
indeed of a peculiar humor, & he would never join himself to any of our churches, giving this reason for it : '/ 
came /ro}n England, because 1 did not like the lord-bishops; but I cant joifi luith you, because I would not be 
tinder ike lord-brethren.'' " — Magnalia Vol. i. B. 3. p. 221. ' 

The fact is, the Rev. John Blackstone was a clergyman of the Church of England who had been silenced for 
non conformity, & came to this country with Sir Fernando Gorge's party. He remained here with few 
others, after Gorges & his company returned to England, & regularly purchased of the Indians the greater part 
of Boston which he had owned about eight years before the arrival of the Massachusetts Bay Company. 



GENEALOGIES 389 

From the valuable autobiography of the Rev. Thomas Shepard, it is found that the Rev. John 
Joanes was a fellow passenger in the ship Defence from London, which arrived at Boston on the 
3. of Oct. 1635 ; yet neither the names of the Reverends Messrs. Thomas Shepard or John Jones,* 
Hugh Peters, John Norton or John Wilson, who came with him, appear in the Custom Plouse list 
of passengers. It i.'; possible that they came under assumed names, as many efforts had been made 
to detain Mr, Shepard in England, & Mr. Wilson had suffered for non-conformity ; in fact, it was 
a difficult matter for either ministers or persons of note to escape from England, while under the- 
ban of non-conformity, without imminent danger of seizure & imprisonment.! 

The names of Mr. Joanes family, however, appear in the Custom House list of passengers 
who came in the ship Defence at that time, viz.: " Sarah Jones his wife aged 34, & his children 
Sarah Jones aged 15, John Jones 11, Ruth 7, Theophilus 3, Rebecca 2, & Elizabeth 6 months," 

In Cotton Mather's Life of the Rev. John Wilson he says : " Having dispatched his affairs 
in England, he again embarked for New England, in company with four ministers, & nearly two 
hundred passengers, whereof some were persons of considerable quality : but they had all been lost 
by a large leak sprang in the ship, if God had not, on a day of solemn fasting & prayer kept on 
board for that purpose, mercifully, discovered this dangerous leak unto them." In his life of the 
Rev. Thomas Shepard, he writes, " that the perils which Mr. Shepard suffered from his own 
countrymen, compelled him once more to encounter the perils of the sea, so that in July 1635, he 
sailed from Gravesend, in a bottom too decayed & feeble indeed for such a voiage ; but yet well 
accommodated with the society of Mr. Wilson, Mr. Joanes & other christians, which more signifi- 
cantly make good the name of the ship, 7'lic Defence. In the first storm the vessel sprang a leak, 
which let in the water faster than both pump were able to turn it out ; a leak eighteen inches long 
& an inch wide ; but it was, though with much difficulty, stopped, just as they were upon diverting 
into Ireland for safety. Being thus again delivered, they got into New .England, & on the 3. of 
Oct. they were set ashore at Boston."' 

From a letter written by the Rev. John Joanes to Governor Winthrop soon after he settled at 
Fairfield, it would appear that upon his arrival in New England, he was entertained by Governor 
Winthrop in the great house at Boston. 

Not long after his coming, he accompanied the Rev. Peter Bulkley & their followers to 
Musketaquid or Concord. The description of this journey by Johnson, in his Wonder-working 
Providence or Zion's Saviour, is of the most touching character. 

It appears that Mr. Jones was not at first altogether satisfied with Fairfield, which he expressed 
in the following letter. The increasing population, however, & the society of his children & 
friends soon raised his spirits & he became content to remain among them. 

"To the Worf"" Mr. John Winthrope at Pequot these present, Leave this letter w"» Mr. 

" Hopkins at Hartford to be sent. 

Fairfield Mar. 5— 46 [-7]. 

" S' Yo" of Feb. 22. I received, being very sorrj'e y' my absence from home at y*= time when 

" yor messenger came hither, hath deprived of soe fit an oppertunity of returning an answeare. I 

" I perceue by y' letter y' Adam, y« Indian hath informed yow how y*^ case stands w"* me. 

" And indeed I, despairing of a convenient passage vnto yow before y^ Spring, did engage myselfe 

"to keepe a lecture here vntill y^ season of y^ yeare would permitt me to remoue, soe that my 

" engagements here being ended w* the winter, it is my desire, & full resolution (if God permitt) 

* " The Rev. John Joanes, was as his name implies, of Welsh extraction. The family in Wales bearing his 
patronymic, however, arc so numerous, that an attempt to trace his pedigree from any published records, would 
seem to be a taskalrrost impossible."— New York Gen & Biog' Record. 

t " That which made the hardships of the Puritans leaving England most discouraging, was the terrible 
zeal of their enemies to guard all ports & search all ships, that none of them should be carried off."— Magnalia 
Vcl I. B. 2, p. 100. 



390 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD 

" to take y^ first opportunity of coming to yovv, either by land or water. For other passages in 
" y""^ letter, I hope to answeare them by word of mouth shortly. In y<= meantime, I desire 
" y'"'praires for y^ guidance of heawen, & w"' my seruice & respects being duly rendered to y°' 
" selfe & Mrs. Winthrope, w"" love to all y°'' little ones, & little Margaret, I remaine, 

" Yo'^ in all observance, 

" John Jones." 
A 

He died in January 1665, probably about the time he made his will, which is dated 17. Jan, 
1664-. In his will, he mentions his wife Susanna, showing that his first wife Sarah had died, & 

that he had m. either before coming to F. or soon after Susanna a widow. It is to be 

regretted that some account of Mrs. Jones maiden name, & that of her first husband cannot be 
found. In A. of Town Deeds is the following record : i " Dec 1688. Thomas Disborow. with 
the consent of his mother-in-law Susanna Jones, & Mercy, wife of said Thomas Disborow," pur- 
chased land at Compo. Her d. by her first husband was no doubt the witch Mercy Disborow of 
Compo, who, with Mrs Thomas Staples & others were tried at F. in 1692, & afterwards pardoned. 
Mr. Jones gave his wife Susannah 50;^, his silver cup, & the remainder of his lot adjoining his 
orchard, as her own forever ; & also the use of 12 acres in the great meadow & his orchard, which, 
at her death were to be divided among his children John, Eliphalet. & his four d s Sarah (Widow 
Ruth James)^Rebecca IIuiL& Elizabeth Hill. To his eldest s. John he gave a part of his library 
" to wit, the works of Augustine, Chrysostom, & the authors (usually called the fathers) ; & the 
remainder of his estate to his s. Eliphalet & his daughters. Mrs. Jones sold the house & home- 
lot of about one acre to Thomas Bennet of F., & moved to Compo. Thomas Bennet re-sold this 
Jones place 17. Dec. 1691 to John Edwards. 

Sarah Joanes m. Thomas, s. of the Rev. Peter Buckley of Concord, Mass., & came with him 

to F. in 1644. Her second husband was Anthony Wilson of F.fty^uth who first m. James, & 

afterwards probably m. Richard s. of John Bouton of Norwalk. He died in 1665 leaving an only 
child Ruth & widow Ruth, & the F. Town Rec. state that she & her children received land from 
her father & mother I.Feb. 1692. Rebecca Joanes m. Cornelius Hull of F., Elizabeth m. William 
Hill 2., the town recorder. 

John Jones 2., s. of the Rev. John Joanes of F. graduated at H. C. in 1643, & was made a 
freeman in 1645. He studied for the ministry, & was employed as a preacher in the western part 
of Nevis, one of the Summer or Bermuda Islands. He died soon after he went there, & his widow 
Mary came to Ct. with their only son John Jones ; &, as his guardian, sold his interest in his 
father & grand-father Joanes' estate at F. to John Bulkley. Mrs. Jones soon after her return m. 
John Osborn of New Haven, & by her will, dated 27. Dec. 1673, says Savage, gave most of her 
estate of So8^. to her two sons John & David, & her d. Mercy the wife of John Austin. The- 
ophilus probably died at Concord, Mass. 

Eliphalet Jones, the youngest son, born 9. Jan 1641, entered Harvard College in 1662, but 
did not graduate, probably on account of his father's death, & want of means to complete his course. 
In 1664 he was appt. with others by the Gen. Ct. to assist in settling an orthodox minister at Rye. 
He appears to have been a very popular preacher. He was made a freeman of Greenwich in 1669, 
in which year he received a call to Jamaica L. I. which he declined. In 1670 the town of Fair- 
field called him to be an assistant of the Rev. Wakem.an, which he also declined. In 1672 he 
removed from Greenwich to Stamford, & became an assistant of the Rev. John Bishop ; but by 
an invitation of the Gen. Ct. he preached once a fortnight at Rye. While in Stamford he m. 
Martha, sister of Thomas Lawrence of that place.* In 1675 he was called to preach at the 

* Will of Thomas Lawrence, F. Prob. Files. 
Will of Mrs. Anthony Wilson, F. Prob. Rec. 



GENEALOGIES 39I 

First Presbyterian Church of ITuntington L. I.; but was not regularly ordained over that church 
until after the death of its former pastor, the Rev. William I^everich in 1677, after which time he 
permanently settled there. He was " a man of great purity & simplicity of manners, & a faithful 
& successful preacher." He died at the advanced age of 91 years, & did not require an assistant 
until he had attained the age of 78. when the Rev. Ebenezer Prime [the ancestor of the distin- 
guished Rev's Samuel I., Edward D. G. Prime. Irenaeus Prime & W"?. C. Prime of New York] 
was called to assist him. He died childless, '• & bequeathed his estate to his sister's son Eliphalet 
Hill, his namesake, who, in his declining years, took care of him, & managed his affairs." He 
was buried on a beautiful eminence, at the east end of Main St. Fifty years afterward the British 
demolished the church, & with its timbers erected block-houses & barracks over the graves, 
which were leveled for that purpose, using the tomb stones for building their fire-places & ovens. 
"One veritable chronicler tells us how he heard from lips of living witnesses, that they had seen 
these soldiers draw their loaves of bread from these ovens, having the reversed inscriptions of the 
tomb-stones of their friends on the lower crust ! " About a century afterwards, those who still 
cherished his memory, erected a plain cenotaph in their public burial ground, bearing the following 
inscription : " In Memory of Rev. Eliphalet Jones, who was the only settled Minister in Hunting- 
ton, from 1676 to 1723. He was born in Concord, Massachusetts, and died between 1730 and 
1740, near 100 years old." New York Gen. & Biog''. Record, April 1875 — Vol. 6. p. 57. 

Thom.'\s Jones, perhaps a brother of the Rev. John Joanes, or may have been an older son 
than those mentioned above, settled at Concord, Mass., & afterwards at F He was granted a 
home-lot of 2^ acres on the s. w. side of the Newton Square; & vvas made a freeman in 1669. 
He deeded to his son Thomas his house, home-lot & lands at F. & removed to Huntington L. I. 

JOY 

Jacob Joy was invited to settle in F. as a blacksmith, an occupation in colonial days, honored 
& respected by the highest dignitaries of the town. A village black-smith in those days, had his 
place on the Meeting-house Green, near the church, & combined the art of lock-smith & gun-smith, 
with that of horse-shoeing. He removed to Kenihvorth, where on the 23. of May 1672, he m. 
Elizabeth d. of William Spencer of Hartford, & widow of William Wellman of New London & 
Kenihvorth. Their children were Deborah b. 23. F'eb. 1673 ; Jacob 14. March 1675 ; Walter 14. 
Aug 1677 ; & Mary 17. Sept 16S0. Deborah m. 19. Nov. 1691 Andrew Ward 3. s. of Andrew 2. 
of Kenihvorth, & grandson of Andrew Ward I. of F. Mary m. 1699 Peter s. of Andrew Ward 2. 
of K. (Savage's Gen. Die). 

/' Joseph Joy of F., before setting out on an expedition against the French, via Albany to Can- 
ada, made the following disposition of his estate to his loving cousins i.e. nieces and nephews ; to 
Joseph Benit 5;^. & two sheep ; to Deborah Joy a cow & calf ; to Mary Joy his black two year old 
heifer, & " to Walter Joy, the son of his brother Jacob,"' all the rest of his estate. (F. Prob. Files.) 
Jacob & Joseph Joy therefore, were either of the Boston, or Hingham Joy family. 

The Joy family in later years, appear at F. & Pequonnock & intermarried with the Elliots of F. 

KNAP 

Roger Knap was at New Haven between 1643 & 47. He afterwards settled at F. & owned a 
good estate. In his will of 21. .March 1672^, he provided for his widow Elizabeth ; gave to s. 
Jonathan 80. acres of his long-lot ; to Josiah 50. acres of his long-lot ; to d. Lydia 10^ ; to s. 
Roger, his house & home-lot, pasture-lot, & other lands ; to John & Nathaniel, the remainder 
of his long-lot, to be equally divided between them ; to ds Elizabeth & Mary 5;^. each. Jonathan 
died young, leaving a small estate inventoried i. Feb. 1676. 



392 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD 

JosiAH s. of Roger Knap i. m. d. of Their children were Mary b. 7. Nov. 

1677 ; Jonathan 21. April 1680. F. T. Rec. 

Roger 2. s. of Roger Knap i. of F. died in 1691, & gave the use of his estate to his mother, & 
at her death to his brother Nathaniel. In case of their death to his sister's children. His estate 
fell to Susannah, Charles & Alexander Lane, the children of Charles Lane, who m. Elizabeth the 
sister of said Roger Knap. His will was probated 23. Sept. 1691. 

KNOWLES 

Alexander Knowles was made a freeman of Mass. 7 Dec. 1636. He was appointed com- 
missioner in place of Mr. Allen, to form a code of laws for the Gen. Ct. of Mass. 7. Oct. 1645 He 
sold land in Kittiry, abutting on Pascataqua River 14. Oct. 165 1 to that colony. — [Mass. Col. Rec. 
Vol. 3, p. 4, 6, 252, 253.] He removed to Fairfield, & purchased 17. Jan. 1653, Henry Whelp- 
ley's house & home-lot on the s. w corner of the Frost Square. He became prominent in public 
affairs, & was elected one of the assistant judges of the Gen. Ct. of Conn. Dec. 1658. He died 
Dec. 1663. In his will he mentions s"s John & Joshua & d. Eliza, wife of Thomas Ford of Milford, 
& her five children. He may have had other children. 

John i. s. of Alexander Knowles i. settled at F., & was made a freeman in 1664. He m. 
Sarah d. of John Cable i. Their children were John & Joshua ; Rebecca who m. Jonathan More, 
house of F. ; Sarah who first m. Capt. Samuel Wakeman 2., & second Dougal TVIacKenzie of F. ; 
& Elizabeth who first m. Joseph Bulkley of F , & second Rev. Joseph Bishop of Stamford, Ct; 
John the father died in 16S6. A. F. T. D. 

Joshua s. of Alexander Knowles i. m. d. of Sergt. John Wheeler. He died intestate. 

His property was divided 26. March 1715, between his children as follows: d. Hannah wife of 

Joseph Camp ; Lydia wife of Newton ; Joseph, Mary & John Rogers, & Sarah wife of 

Abraham Nichols. A. F. T. D. 

Richard Knowles was in F. as early as 1649. I am inclined to believe that he was the 
Richard K. of Cambridge, mentioned by Savage as having died at Hampton i. Feb. 1682. 

Thomas Mayo of F. m. Barbara d. of Richard Knowles of Plymouth 13. June 1677. 
(Savage's Gen. Die.) John Mayhue alias Cohue died at F. ig. Jan. 1685. F. T. R. 

LOCKWOOD 

Robert Lockwood came from England in 1630, requested to be made a freeman, which was 
granted 9. March 1631 ; in 1635 he was at Watertown, where he was executor on the estate of 
Edmund Lockwood (probably his brother), & with his consent the disposal of the children of said 
: Edmund L. was referred to the church of W. Governor John Haynes & Simon Broadstreete were 
appointed to give them into the care of such persons as they thought meet, honorably acquitting 
Robert Lockwood. (Mass. Col. Rec.) He m. Susanna Senison or St. John, by whom he had 
Jonathan b. 10. Sept. 1634 ; Deborah 12. Oct. 1636 ; Joseph 6. Aug. 1638 ; Daniel 25. March 
1640 ; Ephraim i. Dec. 1641 ; Gershom 6. Sept. 1643, all b. at Watertown. (Savage's Gen. Die.) 
He removed to Fairfield about 1645, & had John, Abigail, Sarah, Mary & Deborah. He died in 
1658, leaving widow Susanna, & all the above children mentioned in his will. His widow m. 
Jeffrey Ferris of Stamford, who had been the guardian of her minor children. Abigail Lockwood 
m. John Barlow 2. of F. Mary m. Jonathan Huestead of Greenwich. 

Lieut. Jonathan s. of Robert Lockwood i. settled at Stamford, & m. Mary d. of 

Their children were Jonathan, Robert, Gershom, Joseph, John, & perhaps others. He sold his 
estate in Stamford in 1665, & removed to Greenwich ; was deputy to the Gen. Ct. of Conn. 1671, 
3, 4, & 6. Savage's Gen. Die. 

Sergt. Joseph i. s. of Robert Lockwood i. settled at Bankside, & m. Isabelle the only child 
of Robert Beacham or Beauchamp, by whom he had four children, Robert, Susanna, John & Sarah. 



GExNEALOGIES 393 

He died in 1717, in which year his will dated 17. June 1715, was probated. His wife, son Robert 
& d. Susannah wife of Nathaniel Burr 2., had died before him. In his will he gives lands and Jo£ 
each to Robert & Daniel & other unnamed children of his son Robert ; to d. Susanna's children, 
Nathaniel, Ephraim, Sarah & Ann Burr he gave land, & movable estate ; to s. John, whom he made 
his executor, he left the remainder of his estate, with houses & buildings. To Nell, his negro 
slave, he gave the privilege of living with whom she pleased. — F. Prov. Rec. 

Daniel i. s. of Robert Lockwood i. settled at Bankside & m. Abigail d. of Daniel Burr i. 
s. of the first Jehue B., & died early in 1692. leaving s. Daniel aged 22 ; Abigail aged 17, wife of 
Samuel Robinson ; Mary aged 10 ; in his will of 1691", he mentions brothers Joseph Lockwood & 
Matthew Sherwood. F. Prob. Rec. 

Ei'HRAiM I. s. of Robert Lockwood i. settled at Norwalk, & m. 8. June 1665, Mary d. of 
Matthias Sension or St. John. & had John b. 19. March 1666 ; Daniel 13. Aug 1668 ; Sarah 3. 
Nov. 1670; Ephraim I. May 1673; Eliphalet 27. Feb. 1676; Joseph i. April 1680 & James 21. 
April 16S3, all named in his will of isTjan. 16S5-, aliout which time he died. Savage's Gen. 
Die. 

Gersiiom I. s of Robert Lockwood i. settled at Greenwich. He m. d. of John Bur- 
well & in his will had a son Gershom. Savage's Gen. Die. Of him I find no more. 

It is probable that Robert Lockwood i. who m. Susannah St. John, was a near kinsman of the 
Bulkleys, from which family the names of Gershom & Eliphalet were given to his grand children. 
The St. Johns were a distinguished family in England. The Rev. Peter Bulkley, in a letter 
addressed to the Rev. John Cotton of Boston, in regard to greater pains being needed in printing 
the Bible, wrote : " I intend to write to my nephew St. John about it. A word from yourself & Mr. 
Goodwin, who is a man of so much respect there, would do much good.'' Shattuck's Hist. Con- 
cord. 

A valuable account of the Stamford & Poundridge branch of the Lockwoods, is to be found in 
Bolton's valuable Hist of Westchester County. See also Hall's Plist. of Norwalk, & Huntington's 
Hist, of Stamford. Many of this name have been graduates of the colleges of Yale & Trinity, & 
among them the well known lawyer, Luke Lockwood of Greenwich, Ct. 

LORD 

Robert Lord I. m. Esther d. of Dr. William Ward & widow of Eliphalet Hill of F. His 
children were Mary bapt. 21. Aug. 1698 ; Abigail 5. April 1700 ; Sarah 29. March 1702, & Robert. 
F. Par. Rec. 

Robert 2. s. of Robert Lord i. m. Rachel d. of • & settled at Greenfield. Their 

children were Esther b. 7. Nov. 1731 ; Mary 10. Feb. 1733- ; Samuel 8. April 1736. G. H. 
Par. Rec. 

LYON 

The Lyon? were found in Dorchester, Roxbury, Salem, & other places in the Mass. Col., 
as early 1635. 

Richard Lyon was at F. as early as 1649, wliere his house and home-lot of 2 acres, is 
recorded Jan. 1653* ; was made a freeman in 166-1 (Col. Rec. Conn i. 432). In 1673 he recorded 
five acres of land at Barlow's Plain, & iS^ acres on the Rocks, granted him for a building lot, 
bounded n. w. & s. e. with a highway. In his will dated 12, April 167S he mentions s. Moses, 
to whom he gave i of the length of the homeward side of his land at Pequonnock, ,- of the whole 
length of his long-lot on the s. w. side, other lands, his gun, a rapier, his biggest pewter platter, 
& confirmed lands to him, which he had already given him. To his s. Richard he gave, when of 
age, ^ of his land at Pequonnock, 150 acres of the length of his long-lot east of Moses' part, & 
other lands. To s. William ', of his land at Pequonnock, 1 of the length of his long-lot, east of s. 



394 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD 

Richard's share, & other lands, his long gun, buck- sword & belt. To his wife Margaret, he gave 
60;i^. & the use of his house, home-lot &c, while she remained his widow, & the use of Joseph's & 
Samuel's land during their minority. To his ss. Samuel & Joseph he gave the homestead when 
they became of age, y of the length of his long-lot, to be divided between them, & other lands. 
To d. Hester w. of Nathaniel Perry 4£.; & to her husband Nathaniel for his s. Joseph 3;^. 
" in caning (S; plowing." To ds, Betty, Hannah, & Abigail 4C»2{^. each out of his moveable estate 
when 19 years of age. He entailed each ss. & ds. portion in case any one of them died, to his 
surviving children. He also gave to his cousin Mary Fitch 7/^. 

Moses i. s. of Richard Lyon i. m. Mary d. of & died before 1696. F. T. D. 

Richard 2. s. of Richard Lyon i. m. d. of Their children were Samuel, Eben- 

ezer, & Sarah, all bapt. 5 April 1696 ; Daniel 3. Oct. 1697 ; Nathan 13, Feb. 1703- ; Jonathan 
I. June 1708. F. Par. Rec. 

William s. of Richard Lyon i. m. d. of Their children were Nathaniel bapt. 

9. Sept. 1694 ; Benjamin 8. Sept. 1700 ; Eunice 16. Sept. 1716 ; Tabitha 22. Jan. 1720—. F. Par. 
Rec. 

Samuel i. s. of Richard Lyon i. settled at G. H., & m. Susanna d. of . Their 

children were John, Samuel, James. Margaret, all bapt. 12. March 1704'- ; Abigail 12. May 1706 ; 
Ephraim bapt. 27. Sept. 1708 ; Anne 6. Aug. 1710; Jemimah i. April 1713. F. & G. H. Par. Rec. 

Joseph s. of Richard Lyon i. m. Abigail d. of . Their children were Joseph 

bapt. 28 July 1695 ; David 27. June 1697. F. Par. Rec. 

This family settled at Pequonnock, Greenfield, Green's Farms & Westport. 

Thomas Lyon, probably a brother of Richard i. purchased in 1654 a house of Thomas Sherv- 
ington at F. He may have been here long before this date, but this appears to be the first record 
in his name. He shared in all the land dividends in the township. Savage has fallen into an error, 
when he supposes " that he died or was killed by the Indians while underr Capt. Turner in 
the Fall's Fight & victory, 19 May 1667." The fact is, he survived & sold his home-lot at F. 
I. Nov. 1675 to Daniel Frost 2., and removed from F. to Greenwich. The point of land 
extending cut into Long Island Sound, on the east side of Byram River, was named after the said 

Thomas Conn. Col. Rec. Vol. 1678-1689, pp. 331 & 337. His will is dated 6 Dec. 1689. 

He was a large land holder both in Fairfield & in Greenwich. In his will he mentions wife 
Mary, s. John to whom he gave a double portion of his estate, the mill at Rye & several acres 
of land at White Plains ; to s. Thomas he gave his home-lot lying upon Byram river, other 
lands & his weaver's loom ; to s. Samuel several pieces of land at Greenwich ; to s. Joseph his 
dwelling-house, barn & home-lot & the northward part of the orchard & a pasture lot, on the east- 
ward side of a highway that goes into the neck. He gave to his four sons his rights & privi- 
leges in all divided & undivided lands in Greenwich, Rye and Fairfield. To liis five daughters 
viz.: Mary, Abigail, Elizabeth, Deborah, & .Sarah, he gave portions in money. He also mentioned 
his grand-son Thomas, s. of John. He appointed his wife Mary executrix & ss : John & Samuel 
Lyon as executors of his estate. Probably his ss Samuel & John settled on his lands at Fairfield 
& Greenfield. 

John, probably s. of Richard Lyon I. m. Hannah d. of Their children were 

Thankfull, Elizabeth, Hannah & John, all bapt. 15. Aug 1726 ; Hester bapt. 2. Feb 1726^; 

Lyon bapt 16. April 1729 ; Griswould bapt. 30. May 1731. 

Henry s. of Richard Lyon i.. Savage says, was at Milford in 1645. He was granted a home- 
lot at F. 4. May 1652. s. w. of Seeley's Neck. On the 4 Feb. 1655 he purchased of William Bate- 
man his home-lot. dwelling-house &c., lying on the n. e. side of the Newton Square. He m. a d. 
of William Bateman, & from his father-in-law received one half of his estate. He was brother in 
law to Joseph Middlebrook, who also m. a d. of William Bateman, & also of Thomas Bateman of 
Concord, Mass., only son mentioned in William Bateman's will. 



GENEALOGIES 395 

Joseph, John, Benjamin & Samuel Lyon jr. were among the first members of the Congrega- 
tional church in 1726 at Greenfield. 

The descendants of the Lyon family are so numerous, that it is very difficult to determine any 
direct line of descent after the second generation ; but much of interest tS: value is to be found in 
the Town. Probate & Parish Records. 

MIDDLEBROOK 

Joseph Middlebrook i. came from Concord with the Rev. John Jones in 1644, & settled at 
Pequonnock, where he was granted a home-lot from the town of 2i acres, bounded n. w. by the 
home lot of James Evarts ; n. e. Benjamin Turney"s & George Starkey's, s. e. I^eter Johnson's, & 
s. w. by the highway. He m. at Concord a d. of William Bateman of that place. & after her death, 
Mary widow of Benjamin Turney of Pequonnock. He died about 16S6, in which year his will 
was probated on the 22 Nov., leavings. Joseph & d. Phebe, w. of Samuel Wilson, his only heirs. 
He was one of the land dividend holders of F., & left a good estate. 

Joseph 2. s. of Joseph i. Middlebrook i. m. Sarah d. of Their children were Sarah b. 

12. Nov 1675 ; Hannah 25. June 1677 I John 25. Oct 1678; Joseph 15. April 1680; & Jonathan. 
F. T. Rec. 

John i. son of Joseph Middlebrook 2., m. Mary d. of Their children were Robert bapt. 

16. May 1703; John 10. Dec 1704; Elizabeth i. June 170S ; John i. Oct 1710; Maiy 8. Feb 
1712' 3 ; David 5. June 1715 ; Stephen 2. Feb 1717'-'^ ; Anne 2. Nov 1718 ; Ephraim 28. Aug 1720. 
F. Par. Rec. 

Jonathan son of Joseph Middlebrook 2., m. Rebecca d. of & settled at Greenfield. 

Their children were Michael bapt. 23. Nov. 1712 ; Jonathan g. May 1714 ; Martha 3, March 
1716'-^; Martha again 11. Jan 171819 ; Ebenezer 16. Oct. 1720 ; Nathan 26. May 1723 ; Sarah 7. 
March 1724-. F. Par. Rec. 

Joseph 3. s. of Joseph Middlebrook, 2. m. Deborah d. of , who was not bapt. until 10 Dec 

1704, at F. The above Joseph Middlebrook's name occurs in 1726 among the members of the G. 
H. Par. Their children were David bapt. 10. Dec 1704; Eunice 23. June 1706; Anne ir. April 
1708 ; Sarah 8. Feb 1712-^; Dorothy 6. Nov 1715 ; Dorothy again 17. Nov 1717 ; Joseph 6. 
March 1719-"; Jane 6. Oct 1723. 

Joseph 4. s. of Joseph Middlebrook 3. b. 3. March 1719"°, m. Sarah d. of David Williams of 
Greenfield 17. Dec 1741. Their children were Rhoda b. 16. April 1743 ; Eleanor 26. Sept 1744 ; 
Sarah 30. Aug 1747 ; Deborah Oct, 1749 ; Submit, bapt. in 1754; Eunice b. 16. March 1757. 

Some of the Middlebrook family settled at Long Hill or Trumbull, Ct. & were prominent as 
good soldiers in the Revolution. Dr. Middlebrook's well known Almanac was for many years 
found in most every household in the county of Fairfield, & had a large circulation throughout the 
country. 

MOREHOUSE 

Thomas Morehouse i. was at Weathersfield, says Savage, in 1640. He was among the first 
to receive a grant of seven acres in Stamford. He is found at Fairfield before 1653, where he had' 
purchased the house & home-lot of John Barlow on the Ludlow Square. He was granted land by the 
town on the west side of the Uncoway River & present Black Rock Bridge, where he ran a grist- 
mill on the creek, which empties into the river between Seely's Neck & the Old Mill hill. He m. 
Isabella d. of Ralph Keeler of Norwalk. His will is dated 8. Aug 1658. in which he leaves i of 
his estate to his wife Isabell ; a double portion to his eldest 's. Samuel, homestead, mill & mill-lot, 
which he was not to sell without the consent of the town ; & further distributes his estate among 
his sons Thomas, John, Jonathan & ds. Mary & Ann. He mentions d. Hannah, to whom he had 
already given a full portion. 

Lieut. Samuel i. s. of Thomas Morehouse i., ni. Rebecca d. of William Odell i. Their 



396 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD 

children were Samuel, Jonathan, Thomas & John, & probably others. He was Marshal of F. in 
1673. & held offices of trust & usefulness. The inventory of his estate was recorded in 1733. 

Rebecca m. Richard Hubbell 2. 5. Nov. 16S5. Thomas m. Mary d. of , whom he made 

his sole heir, & died about 1690. 

Johns, of Thomas Morehouse i. was at Southampton L. I. in 1684. 

Fhomas 2. s. of Thomas Morehouse i, m. Mary d. of Thomas Sherwood. Their children 
were Thomas, John, Daniel, James, Rebecca, Elizabeth, Susannah, Mary & Ann. The inventoiy 
of his estate was recorded in 1708. 

Jonathan s. of Thomas Morehouse i. pur. of his brother Samuel their father's dwelling 
house, near the creek under the hill. He m. Mary d. of Edward Wilson of F. Their children 
were Jonathan b. i. Jan 1677 ; Martha 2. Nov. 1679 ; & probably others. He m. again 16. April 
1690 Rebecca d of John Knovvles. Their children were John & Hannah bapt. 7. Oct. 1694 ; 
Joshua 8. March 1695- ; Elizabeth 9. May 1702 ; Stephen, Gershom & Ruth, all bapt. 21. May 
1704; Elizabeth 31. March 1706; Elizabeth again 16. May 170S ; James 19. March 1709--; 
Abijah, 27. April 1712 ; Ephraim 28. Aug. 1716 ; Anne 2. Nov 1718 ; James 11. Nov. 1722. F. 
Far. Rec. 

Sergt. Daniel i. s. of Thomas Morehouse 2 m. d. of Their children were 

Abraham bapt 22. Dec. 1700 ; Hannah 24. Sept. 1704 ; Daniel 29. Dec. 1706^ ; Samuel 29. May 
1709 ; Rebecca 24. Feb. 1711!- ; Catherine 29. Aug. 1714. F. Par. Rec. 

Thomas Morehouse jr. m. Martha d. of who was not bapt. until 11. Nov 1696. 

Their children were Rebecca & Mary bapt. 12. June 1698 ; John 5. Jan 1701 ; Sarah 6. Feb 
1703- ; Jethro 3. Feb 1705'^ ; Thomas 16. May 170S ; Thankful 23. July 1710 ; Stephen ro. Aug. 
1712 ; Thomas again 4. Sept. 1715. F. Par. Rec. 

THE NASH FAMILY. 

The patronymic of the name Nash is of Saxon origin. In olden times, it was the custom to 
prefix the residence of any particular family, by the word Atte (at the) ; thus, atte-oak, atte-ash, 
atte-well, atte-wood. In the course of time a consonant was introduced for the sake of euphony, 
hence the name atte-n-ash, atte-n-oak, atte-nwell, atte-n-wood. Still later, in order to abbreviate 
& facilitate pronunciation, the atte was dropped, hence arose the simple names of Naish, Nash, 
Noak, Nokes, Atwood. At well, &c. 

Thomas Nash, the great grandfather of Capt. Thomas Nash of F., is supposed to have been 
the Thomas Nash, who, among the emigrants of Rev. John Davenport's company, landed at Bos- 
ton, from the ship Hector, on the 26 July 1637. It is possible that he was among the later emi- 
grants of the Plymouth company, for, in a letter signed by five of the Rev. John Robinson's 
congregation, who remained behind at Leyden, Holland, & addressed to their dear brethren in the 
Lord at Plymouth, New England, dated 30. Nov 1628, is to be found the name Thomas Nash. 
He may have paid a visit to Holland, & returned with Davenport's company ; or, he may have been 
among those who joined the New Haven company from the Plymouth Colony, during their sojourn 
in Massachusetts.* He was accompanied to New England by his wife Margery, daughter of 
Nicholas Baker (eldest son of John Baker) & Mary Hodgetts (" who married Thomas Nash & went 
to New England '')f & five children viz : Mary, John, Sarah, Joseph, & Timothy born 1626. 

Among the list of subscribers to the fundamental agreement of the New Haven Colony June 
4, 1639, is that of Thomas Nash. Four days after the signing of this agreement, another company 
with their pastor, the Rev. Mr. Whitfield, joined the New Haven or Quinipiac planters from Kent 
& Surrey, England. These, with some of the first comers of New Haven, formed a company to 
begin a plantation at Guilford. Barber states " that the planters of Guilford had not one Black- 

* Mass. His. Collections Vol i. 4'.. Series, 1852. 

t County Genealogies & Pcdigfrees of the Hertfordshire Families, by William Berry. 



GENEALOGIES 397 

smith amon<; Ihcm ; " & that it was ' ' with great cost that the town obtained one to live among them." 
Thomas Nash was invited to join the Guilford party, but his services being required by the New 
Haven planters, they interfered & prevented his going. In 165 1 he was given the charge of all 
the town muskets of New Haven. The tradition in the family is, that Thomas Nash was from 
Lancashire, England. He appears to have been well advanced in years upon his arrival in Amer- 
ica. In his will, dated 1659 he specially mentions his old age. He was called Brother Nash in the 
Church Records. His home lot was the second on the west side of State, from the corner of 
Chapel St. 

Thomas Nash died 12. May 165S. Margery his wife died, within two years after his death. 

Sergt Joseph Nash, the second son of Thomas Nash of New Haven, was born in England & 
followed his father's trade of gun & blacksmith. He was made a freeman 7. March 1657, & moved 
to Hartford soon after, where he was made a freeman of Conn. 20. May 1658 ; & held the high office 
of a constable in 1660. He was twice married, but the maiden names of his wives are not known. 
Their Christian names were Mary & Margaret. But little is known of his family history. His 
estate, which he bequeathed to his wife Margaret, & to their only daughter Sarah, amounted to 
;^420, 5S. lod. The names of some of his children are found in New Haven as follows : 

John b. 12. July 1650. 
Hannah b. 2i. Jan. 1652. 
Mary, his wife, died 25. Nov. 1654. 
daughter died 18. Jan. 1654. 

Sarah b. at Hartford, but not recorded, is supposed to have m. Noah Cook, of Noniiampton, 
Mass. He probably had other children of which no trace has been found. 

Sergt. John, believed to be a son of the above Joseph Nash, is recorded as living at Brand- 
ford Ct. in 1677. He married 22. Aug. 1677, Elizabeth widow of Antony Howd, & by her had 
the following children, 

Joseph b. I Aug. 1678 d. unmarried in F. 

Thomas b. 28 Jan 16S0 settled in F. 

Elizabeth b. 15. April 16S1 m. Stephen Foot. 

Elizabeth Nash, by her first husband Antony Howd had John b. 1673 ; Antony b. 1674 & 
, Benoni b. 1676. 

John Nash died 1682, leaving an estate of ^132. gs. gd. The inventory of his estate gives 
the impression that he was a shoemaker. 

Capt Thomas Nash '•^\ son of the above John Nash settled while a young man at Maxumus 
or Green's Farms. On the iSth Nov. 1701, the' town of F. granted him, " an acre & a half of 
land, to be laid out between Clapboard Hill & ye Country Road, near y^ run called y^ Hot-hole 
run, which grant is on condition y' he live & died in possession of it, & carry on y^ trade of a Smith 
at Maxumus farms." He was made Captain of the militia, & was a man of influence in the civil 
& political affairs of the town. 

As early as the 15. of March 1710, Thomas Nash gave a lot " four rod square, for a house to 
meet in, for the worship of Almighty God forever." He was the first deacon of that church, which 
office he held through life, & also his son & grand-son, who bore the name of Thomas. He d. 8. 
June 1748. in the 69 year of his age. His last will was dated 16. June 1741. His estate was 
valued- at ^^10,953 8^- 6<i. Sarah his wife died 20 Feb 1760. 

Their children were, 

Joseph bap. 4, Jan. 1712-13, born probably in 1706, died young. 

Thomas born 3.^ Aug. 170S, settled at Green's Farms. 

Sarah born 20. March 1712. m. John Griffin. 

Jonathan born 17. Oct. 1714, settled at Green's Farms. 

Elizabeth born 3. March 1717, m. John Burr. 



398 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD 

Capt. Thomas Nash, <-> son of the above Capt. Thomas Nash W m. 2S. Sep. 1731, Rebecca 

daughter of Hull of F. He lived at Port Royal, so named from a spring of running water, 

resorted to by those who lived near it, for its softness, sweetness & purity. It is situated on the 
left of the turnpike, north-west of Turkey-hill. He afterwards occupied the homestead of his 
father. He lield the lifelong office of deacon in the Green's Farms' church, & was a highly 
respected & esteemed citizen of F. 

Capt. Thomas Nash '=' d. 2. Aug. 1769. 

Rebecca, his wife d. 22. April 1791. 

Their children 

Rebecca b. iS. Nov. 1732 — m. Simon son of Couch. 

Eliijabeth b. 23. Aug. 1734, m. (i) Reuben Bradley (2) John Hubbell. 

Eunice b. 27. March, 1737, m. (i) Benjamin 

Davis, (2) John Morehouse. 

Lydia b. 26 March 1740, m. William Hawley. 

Thomas b. 21 May 1743, settled in the homestead. 

Mary bap. 11 Dec. 1747, died 25. Dec 1747. 

Capt Thomas Nash i3\ son of the above Thomas, first married Mary, daughter of William 
Burr Esqr of F., & second Mary Nichols. The last wife was the mother of Dr. William B. Nash 
of Bridgeport, Ct. 

Children of Sarah, daughter of Capt. Thomas Nash '^> & John Griffin of Reading, Ct. 

Sarah, bap. 9 May, 1736, m. John Burr, jr. 22. Nov. 1755. 

Eunice bap. 22. Oct. 173S, m. Jonathan Couch, 14. Aug. 1759. 

John m Catharine Johnson, settled in Reading. 

Joseph m. Esther Hall, settled in Reading. 

Jonathan, bap. 23. Nov. 1746, settled in Danbury. 

Elizabeth m. Jeremiah Sherman. 

Hepzibah m. Joseph Sanford, 2. Nov. 1762. 

Jonathan, son of Capt. Thomas Nash <'\ married Sarah, daughter of Andrews of Maxu- 

mus 14. March 1754. 

Their children, 

Sarah born 17. Jan. 1755, m. Thomas Couch. 

Elizabeth bap. 3. Oct. 1756, died i March, 1775. in her 19'.*? year. 

Eleanor born 14 Jan. 1758, m. Simon Couch, a brother of the above Thomas. 

Mr. Jonathan Nash died 9 Oct. 1757. 

Sarah Andrews Nash, his widow, afterwards married I.ieut. Nathan Godfrey, of Green's 
Farms 24. Jan. 1764 ; by whom she had Roda, Jonathan, Esther, Ebenezer & Andrews. 

Elizabeth daughter of Capt. Thomas Nash d), was married 14. Oct. 1735 to John Burr, son of 
Daniel Burr of F. She died 29 March 1740. 

Her children 
Daniel, b. 5. March 1737. 
John, b. 9. Oct. 1739 

Her husband John Burr, then married Grace daughter of Peter Bulkley, & by her'had Talcott, 
John, Grace, Eunice, & Elizabeth. Taken from The Nash Family, by Rev. Sylvester Nash. 

NICHOLS 

Francis Nichols i. was an early settler at Stratford, where he died in 1650, & was father of 
Isaac, Caleb & John, all born in England. 

Isaac i. s. of Francis i. of Stratford, was one of the early settlers of that town in 1639 He 
was probably the Sergt. appointed by the Gen. Ct. of Conn, to train the militia of Stratford & 



GENEALOGIES 399 

Pequonnock in 1636. (Col. Rec. Conn. i. 36.) lie m. Margaret d. of Their chiMren were 

Sarah b. i. Nov. 1649 ; Josiah 29. Jan 1652, who died in 1691, leaving widow, but no children ; 
Isaac 12. March 1654 ; Jonathan 20. Dec. 1655 ; Ephraim 16. Dec. 1657 ; Patience 2. Feb. 1660 ; 
Temperance 17. May 1662; Margery 30. Nov. 1663; Benjamin 2. Feb. 16G6 ; & Elizabeth 2. 
April 1668. His trade was that of a soap boiler. He died in 1694. In his will of 2S. Sept. 1694, 
he mentions w. Margaret ; his four sons, Josiah, Isaac, Jonathan & Ephraim were dead, but he 
gives a small legacy to each of the children of the last three : his sons having previously had 
their portions. His d. Mary m. 8. Jan 1667, the Rev. Israel Chauncy of Stratford ; d. Sarah m. 8. 
Jan. 1674, Stephen Burritt ; & d. Elizabeth m. in 1691, the Rev. Joseph Webb of F. — Savage's 
Gen. Die. 

Caleb s. of Francis Nichols i., was made a freeman in 1669, & probably m. Ann d. of Andrew 
Ward. Their children were Sarah b. i. Dec. 1651; Ann 5. March 1653; Esther 18. Feb. 1655; Joseph 
25. Dec. 1656 ; Samuel 29. March 1658 ; Andrew 28. Nov. 1659 ; Abraham 19. Jan 1672 : Abi- 
gail Feb 1664 ; Hannah Aug. 1667 ; Caleb in 1669 ; Phebe 12. Nov. 1671 ; & John Nov. 1676. 
He removed to Woodbury & died there in 1690. In his will 6. of Aug. 1690, he mentions children 
Samuel, John, Caleb & Abraham ; & ds. Mary, Ann, Phebe ; & Moses Wheeler who had m. 20. 

Oct. 1674, his d. Sarah ; John Prentiss whom, d ; & William Martin whom. d. Abigail. Mary 

m. Hull ; Phebe m. probably a s. of Nicholas Knell. — Savage's Gen. Die. 

John i s. of Francis Nichols i., was, says Bond, a land-holder at Watertown in 1636 or 7. & 
was probably the same, who was an early settler of Fairfield, & who was granted a home-lot from 
the town 2^ acres of land, on the s. e. side of the Frost Square, lying between Richard Wescott's & 
Daniel Frost's home-lots. He was a dividend land-holder, & stood among the leading citizens of 
F. He died intestate, & his widow Grace soon after rn. Richard Perry of F. On the iS. May 
1649, she gave up her interest in the homestead to her s. John Nichols at his request ; to her 
children Samuel, John & Sarah Nichols she gave 6£. each, & $£. more to her s. Samuel. She 
appointed her brother Isaac Nichols of Stratford, & Andrew Ward of F. administrators in her place, 
on her first husband's estate. (A. Town Deeds.) A distribution of John Nichols estate was made 
by his brother Isaac. & Andrew Ward 9. June 1655, in which six children were named viz : Hes- 
ter, Elizabeth, Hannah, Isaac, Sarah & John. In this distribution Samuel is not named. F. Prob. 
Rec. 

John 2. s. of John Nichols l. of F., joined the army in King Philip's war, and died the first 
year unmarried. Savage's Gen. Die. 

" Isaac i. s. of John Nichols i, of F. was brought up by his Uncle Isaac of Stratford, where 
he also settled, & m. 15. Aug. 1672. Esther Clark. Their children were Grace b. 6. June 1673 I 
Alice 25. Oct. 1674 ; John 10. Oct. 1676 ; Samuel 6. Dec. 167S, & he perhaps removed to Derby. 
Savage's Gen. Die." 

Ensign Ephraim, s. of Isaac Nichols i. of Stratford, & grandson of Francis i. m. Sept 
1682, Esther, first wid. of Dr. William Ward & second wid. of Ebenezer Hawley. Their children 
were Ignatius b. 17. Dec. 1683 ; Disborow i. Jan. 1685 ; & Esther 18. Dec. 16S9 & probably 
others. F. T. Rec. 

John Nichols s. of m. d. of Their children were John Nichols bapt. 31. 

March 1695; Ebenezer 16. June 1695; Samuel 21. March 1696-"; Solomon 23. April 1699; 
Joseph 10. Sept. 1704 ; Benjamin & Margery 12. Aug. 1711. F. Par. Rec. From this family the 
Nicholses of Fairfield & Greenfield appear to have descended, as well as from the sons of Ephraim 
Nichols. 

ODELL 

William Odell was at Concord in 1639, & was perhaps from the Parish of Odell in England, 
from which the Rev. Peter Bulkley came. His s. James was b. in 1640 at Concord, & died the 
next year; also d. Rebecca b. 17. July 1642. Savage says he removed from Concord to South- 



400 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD 

ampton L. I. in 1642 & soon after settled at Pequonnock, where he occupied a considerable land 
at Greenlea. He d. in 1676 ; the same year June 6 his will is dated, in which he gave to his 
s. William, who had settled at Greenwich, his horses, cattle, swine & sheep, & ^ of his movable 
estate ; to his grand-son Samuel Morehouse, s. of his d. Rebecca, he gave all his land near Unco- 
way River, called Rossiter's field ; 2 acres in the great meadow before the town ; land in Concord 
field called " poor man's lot ;" building-lot, pasture-lot, long lot, all his land dividends in Compo, 
all his housing & half of his home lot in F. , out of which legacies said Samuel Morehouse was to 
pay to his brothers Thomas & John 5^ each, when 21 years of age. To^grand-son John Odell, all 
land on the other side of the creek, & the other half of his home lot. To Jonathan Morehouse 2 
sheep ; to Goody Knap 4 yards red cloth : to daughter in law Mary Odell, his wife's red broadcloth 
cloak. All other remaining estate he gave to his s. John Odell, and to his daughter Rebecca More- 
house. He made his son in law Samuel Morehouse, & John Odell his executors. 

John s. of William Odell i., lived at Greenlea. where in 1678 he recorded a large amount of 
land, of which he had had quiet possession eight years. He m. Joanna d. of Joseph Walker dec. of 
Stratford, & step-daughter of Richard Hubbell i. Their children were Samuel b. 10. March 1677; 
Hannah 20, Oct 1679 ; Deborah 28, Aug 16S2. (F. T. Rec) ; & perhaps others. 

John 2. s. of John Odell i m d. of Their children were Anne b. 6. March 1688^-; 

John 5, Nov. 1690 ; Bethiah 27. Feb 1692 ; Sarah 10, Aug 1694. 

Abel Bingham the school teacher of Fairfield Village, m. Elizabeth Odell 16. May 1694. 
(probably the d. of W'.'.' Odell.) Their children were Abigail b. 7. June 1696. & perhaps others. 



OGDEN 

John & Richard Ogden were early emigrants to Conn. . John the elder brother, settled at 
Stamford as early as 1641 ; & the next year made an agreement with Gov. Keift of New York to 
build a stone church for 2500 guilders ; was a patentee of Hempstead L. I. in 1644 ; & lived in 
Southampton L. I. in 1656 ; was an assistant in 1656, 60, & 62 ; & was named in the L I. Charter 
of King Charles II. in 1662. He removed soon after to New Jersey, & with Gov. Carteret made 
large land purchases, & represented Elizabethtown in the first assembly of N. J. Savage's Gen. 
Die. 

Richard Ogden, a brother of the above John, settled at Stamford, & was a partner with John 
in building the stone church for Gov. Keift at New York. He removed to F. between 1650 & 
1660 ; & in 1662 entered into a contract with the town to run the new mill, which had been erected 
by Thomas Sherwood 2. at the town's expense on Mill River at Mill Plain, now known as Perry's 
Mill. He erected a stone house near the mill. On the 20. Dec. 1680, the town sold the mill & 
mill-dam, ponds & streams to him & to his heirs, provided "he maintained a good corn mill" to 
grind all kinds of grain " reasonably well & sufficiently " into good meal, for which he was to 
receive rg- of the grist, 8-^ acres were granted him on the east of the mill dam, & 3 acres on the 
north side, several acres of meadow & upland on the n. w. adjoining ; the town reserving "a right 
of cart-way & a cart bridge across sd. pond & stream in the high-way near the mill." He died 
intestate, & his widow soon followed him. His estate was valued at £Sos, 10? 6^ . The town in 
order to protect the minor heirs & to continue the mill, made the following settlement with the 
heirs on the 31. Oct 1690. The mill-house, stream, ponds, dams & lands which Richard Ogden 
had deeded to his son Richard before he died were confirmed to him with 3 of his fathers Per- 
petual Common. John, a minor, who had chosen Samuel Ward as his guardian, was set off tLe 
stone house with the land aroiind it, -j of his fathers Perpetual Common, land at Sasqua neck & 
other places, & s£ from his brother Richard. PJavid, the second son, was allowed the meadow & 
upland near che mill, land at Mill Hill, & all of his father's long-lot, his father's tvi'o divisions at 
Compo, & -3- of the Perpetual Common, & all lands & housings deeded him by his father, provided 



GENEALOGIES 4OI 

he paid to his sisters or to their husbands, all remaining legacies left unpaid, & the daughters <-,r,£. 
each. 

In the inventory of Mary, widow of above Richard Ogden I., dated 28 Aug. 1687 the following 

children were mentioned, ss Richard, David & John, Alice, w. of Sergt. Samuel Ward, w. of 

Daniel Meeker, & w. of John Smith. 

Richard 2. s. of Richard Ogden i., m. d. of Their children were Joseph, Rich- 
ard, Jonathan, & Sarah, all bapt. 27. Jan 1694^; Mary 19. April 1696. F. Par. Rec. 

I find no David Ogden sooner than the following David mentioned in the G. M. Par. Rec. as 
a member of that church in 1726. Ills children are found in the F. Par. Rec. & are as follows, 
David b. 23. June 1727 ; Abigail 22. Feb 1729'^°; Jonathan 21. Sept. 1735. 

John i. s. of Richard Ogden i., settled at Greenfield, & m. Mary Jennings 24. Jan 1728'-'. 
Their children were, x Sarah b. 5 Sept 1730; Samuel 24. Oct 1732; John 24, April 1735 ; Ebe- 
nezer 23. April 1737 ; Sarah 24. May 1739; Mezekiah 5. March 1744. 

Edmond Ogden s. of b. 28. June 1707 ; m. Mary Gilburd 20. Jan. 1728'. Their 

children were x Joseph b. 25. Dec. 1730; x Obediah 4. Nov. 1732 ; Eunice 28. Aug. 1734; Anne 
JO. Nov 1736; Jesse 2. July 173S ; Moses 23. July 1740; Bethuel 21. April 1744. G. II. Par. 
Rec. 

OSBORN 

Richard Osborn sailed from London in the ship Hopewell, Capt. Thomas Wood master, 
bound for Barbadoes 17. Feb. 1634. (Hotton's Emigrants.) In 1635, Richard Osborn was one of 
the company that met with the Rev. Peter Hobart, & drew for a home-lot in the settlement of 
Hingham, Mass. He was a brave soldier in the Pequot War. His name occurs among the free 
planters of New Haven in 1639, in which he signed the fundamental agreement, at the gathering 
of the church on the 4'.'? of March ; shared in the divisions of land in 1643 ; & took the oath of 
fidelity before Governor Eaton i. July 1644. His pew in the church was No 4, "' in the other 
side of the door." N. H. Col. Rec. He is prob. the same Richard Osborn who removed to F. 
between 1650 & 1653, & purchased of Thomas Pell a house & home-lot lying, between John Cable's 
& Thomas Shervington's. He purchased other places, & finally a house and home-lot adjoining 
that of Cornelius Hull's. He became one of the dividend land holders of the town. " For his 
good services in the Pequot War," the Gen Ct. of Conn, granted him 80 acres of land, to be taken 
up in F., where it did not interfere with other grants, which were set off to his heirs in 1707, by 
Capt. Nathan Gold & Judge Peter Burr. He removed to Westchester, & on the 17. of Nov. 1682, 
he deeded to his son John Osborn & to his heirs, all his housing & home- lots, orchards, wood & 
timber in the town of F., together with all his uplands & meadows, his privilege in the undivided 
commons, & all his right & title to lands in the Colony of Conn., provided he paid all his debts & 
dues in F., & the following sums of money to his other heirs, viz : to the five children of his eldest 

d. 20^ each, when of age ; to his d. Priscilla's (w. of Cornelius Seeley) two sons 40', each, & 

20*, to each of her two daughters, when of age ; to his d. Sarah's seven children 20! each, when 
of age : to his d. Mary's (w. of Thomas Bedient) three children 40? each, when of age ; to his d. 
Elizabeth 50;^. (who perhaps m. James Beers.) [A. Town Deeds p. 449.] Besides the s. John 
mentioned in this will, he also had a s. David. He was in Newtown, L. I. where he is said to 
have died, well advanced in years. John s. of Nathaniel Baldwin, m. Hannah d. of Richard 
Osborn, 19. Nov 1663, & she may have been the unnamed daughter. 

Capt. John i. s. of Capt. Richard Osborn i ; was an important & influential man in F. He 
m. Sarah d. of James Bennet. Their children were Hannah b. 26. July 1677; Samuel, John. 
David, Joseph, Elizabeth, & perhaps others. He died 15. July 1709. F. T. Rec. 

David i. s. of Capt. Richard Osborn i., was of Dr. Thomas Pell's company from F., which 
settled at Eastchester in 1666. He m. Abigail d. of Philip Pinkney in 1679, another of Pell's 
company from F. . Their children were Sarah, Richard & Abigail. His d. Sarah m. Jonathan 

26 



/ 



402 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD 

Sturges 2. of F. 31. July 1692, & for a second husband Judge Peter Burr. His d. Abigail m. 
William Hill 3. of F. 7. Oct. 1691. David the father died in 1679. 

Richard, the s. of David Osborn i., settled at Ridgefield, Conn, in 1713, & purchased of 
Richard Whiting, one twenty-ninth part of that town. He is said to have lived to the advanced 
age of 103 years.* 

Sergt. Samuel s. of Capt. John Osborn r., m. Abigail d. of Their children were Sam- 
uel & Hannah bapt. 2 Jan 1703-; Abigail 27. April 1709; Anne 15. July 1711 ; Sarah 29. Nov 
1713. Samuel the father died in 175 1. 

Sergt. John 2. s. of Capt.. John Osborn i.. m. Abigail d. of Their children were 

Abigail bapt. 5. March 1703-; John 7. Oct. 1705 ; Jonathan 21. Dec 1707 ; Mary 17. Feb 1711^^; 
John 6. Feb. 1714--; Mary 17. Feb 1716-- ; Mary again 20. Aug 1721 ; Howes 3. Feb. 1722^=^; 
Thankful 2. May 1725 ; Elizabeth 28. May 1727 ; Mary & Deborah Silliman, daughters of Capt, 

Osborn's present wife, bapt. 2 Nov. 1729, showing that his second wife was the widSw of 

Silliman ; their d. Martha was bapt. 13. Sept 1730. Capt. John, the father died in 1761. 

Sergt. David 2. s. of Capt. John Osborn i., m.-^^^^"d. of ^^^^^^'llieir children were David 
bapt. 8. Feb. 1707- ; William 22. May 1709 ; Sarah June 1711 ; John 8. Nov. 1713 ; Eliazer (who 
settled at New Fairfield in 1739.) 29. Jan. 1715-^; Dorothy 3. Nov. 1717; Hannah 5. Feb 1720^-' ; 
Grace 10. Jan 1724'^; David 6. Aug 1727. Sergt. David Osborn died in 1732. 

Joseph s. of Capt. John Osborn i. m. Hannah d. of Their children were Elizabeth 

bapt. 28. June 1719 ; Nathan b. Jan. 1720'J- ; Hannah bapt. 21. June 1724 ; Sarah bapt. 5. May 

1726 ; Abigail, b. ; Olive bapt. 7. Sept. 1729 ; Peter bapt. 23. May 1731. Joseph the father 

died in 1731. F. & G. H. Par. Rec. ' 

Eleazer Osborn & Hannah Bulkley d. of Peter Bulkley, were m. 29. June 1738. Their chil- 
dren were Eleanor b. 11. April 1739; Sarah 27. May, 1741, David 3. Sept. 1743, Gershom 23. 

April 174(3, Hannah 21. Nov. 1748, Grissel 14 March 175 1, Ellen 18. Dec. 1754, Ebenezer . 

Eleazer the father d. 20. May 1788. F. Book of Births & Marriages. 

READ 

William Reed, Reid, or Read, recorded in 1673 a large amount of land, & also land deeded 
him by Thomas Skidmore of F., near the old Uncoway mill-creek. He may have been said Skid- 
more's son-in-law. He also purchased of Richard Hubbell a dwelling house on the n. w. of the 
Uncoway creek, near the present stone crossing, or Gould's Bridge as it is now called. There is a 
record 2. Sept. 1693, in ^. F. T. D., of land deeded by him to his daughters Sarah & Abigail, 
& to his "loving son John Read." As early as 2. Sept. 1673, he purchased of Cornelius Hull land 
adjoining his dwelling-house, called "the calve's pasture." He was a large land-holder in F. 
A. F. T. D. 

John i. s. of William Read i., was b. at F. 29. Jan. 1679-". {F. T. Rcc.) & m. Ruth d. of 
Lieut. John Talcott of Hartford, & sister of Governor Joseph Talcott. He thus became brother- 
in-law of Lieut. Gov. Nathan Gold of F., who. m. his wife's sister Hannah Talcott {Savage's Gen. 
Die.) He first studied for the ministry «S: preached at Waterbury, Hartford & Stratford. His 
talents meanwhile inclined to the law, & after due preparation, he was admitted to the bar in 1708 ; 
& appointed attorney for the Queen in 1812. He soon after settled at Redding Ct. where he 
purchased a large tract of land fro n the natives, & where his home was called the Read manor. 
He removed to Boston about 1722, & was soon recognized as the most eminent lawyer in New 
England ; became a member of the Governor's Council, & was Attorney General of Mass. several 
years. He died in 1749, leaving to his six children an ample fortune. His children were Ruth 
who m. 14. Sept. 1737, Rev. Nathaniel Hum, first pastor of the church in Reddirtg, Ct. (F. Par. 
& T. Rec.) "John ; William a lawyer of Boston who died a bachelor in 17S0, aged 70 years ; 

* Much of the above information has been furnished by John Osborn Esqr. of Norwalk, Conn. 



GENEALOGIES 403 

Mary, who m. Capt. Charles Morris of Boston, who afterwards removed to Halifax Nova Scotia, 
where he became Chief Justice of the courts ; Abigail who m, Joseph Miller of Boston ; & Deborah 
who m. first a Mr. Willstead, & second Henry Paget of Smithfield R. I." C. B. Todd's Hist. 
Redding. 

John 2. s. of John Read i., inherited the Read manor of Redding. He was a wealthy & 
influential gentleman, whose name often appears in the Bee's of F. , where he was Justice of the 
Peace in 1756 ; & was appointed on the 3. Nov. 1757 Colonel of the Fourth Regiment of Horse 
in Conn. He first m. Mary d. of John Ilawley of Stratford 2. Sept. 1723. Their children were 
Mary b. 2. Sept. 1724; John 16. Jan. 1725'^ ; William 31. Jan. 1730^; Hezekiah 23. Feb. 1734^. 
Mrs. Mary Read d. 14. Feb. 1748. Mr. Read next m. 19. Dec. 1750. Sarah d. of Samuel Bradley 
of Greenfield. Their children were Sarah b. 27. Nov. 1751 ; flezekiah 23 Feb. I753 ; I^uth 25. 
Sept 1754 ; Deborah 5. April 1756. F. Rec. of Births. Mary Read m. John Harpin ; John m. 
Zoa Hillard ; William m. Sarah Hawl:ry of Redding; H^dciah m.. Anna Gorham ; Sarah first 
m. Major Jabez Hill of Weston (who d. in 1779) & second 'nieoo^re Mun?on ; Ruth m. Jeremiah 
Mead ; Deborah m. Thomas Benedict, a lawyer ; Mabel m. Levi Starr ; Esther m. Daniel s. of 
Rev. Nathaniel Bartlett ; Zalmon m. Hulda Bradley of Greenfield. C. Burr Todd's Hist, of 
Redding. 

ROBINSON 

Samuel Robinson i. settled at Barlow's Plain. Both he & his wife Comfort died before 1680. 
leaving s. Samuel the .sole heir of his estate. His wife Comfort appears to have been a d. of John 
Cable sr., as in the F . T. Rec. Samuel Robinson is called a grand-son of John Cable Sr. 

Samuel 2. s. of Samuel Robinson i. also settled at Barlow's Plain, & m. Abigail" 1. of Danie, 
Lockwood of Bankside. Their d. Damaris was b. 13. April 1696. His will of 2. April 1698 
gives w. Abigail & d. Damaris his estate, to be equally divided between them. It does not appear 
that he left a son, but in the G. H. Par. Rec. the following record is to be found : 

Jonathan Robinson m. Lucretia Thorp — April 1752. Their children were Samuel b. — 
May 1753 ; Seth 11. Aug. 1754; Jonathan 2. Nov. 1760 ; Jonathan Robinson next m. Elizabeth 
Canfield 14. April 1763. Their children were Elizabeth b. iS. Nov. 1764; Jonathan 13. Sept. 
1765 ; Lucretia 9. Oct. 1768. G. H. Par. Ree. 

ROOTS 

Savage says, Richard Roots was at Salem Church in 1636. He was made a freeman of the 
Mass. Bay Colony 9. March 1637. & was probably the same who removed to Fairfield early, & d. 
before 1653. His wid. Margaret m. Michiel Try. 

John Roots, nephew of Richard Roots, was given land by his Uncle Michiel Try at F. 

The name of Roots, says Cothren, appears early at Hartford & Farmington. Thomas Roots 
was in the land division at Hartford 1639. ]o\\r\. a freeman 1663 of Farmington, d. in 1685. leav- 
ing children Joseph, Caleb, Mary, {w. of Isaac Bronson) & Stephen. A John Roots, probably s. 
of the above John, was at Woodbury in 1685 ; his w. Dorcas d. 15. May 1720, & he d. 25. May 
1723, leaving children. Savage's Gen. Die. 

Much may be found of the Root Family in " Hoare's Wiltshire" in the Congressional 
Library of Washington. They were evidently a family of distinction, 

ROWLAND 

Henry Rowland was at F. as early as 1649—, in March of which year, he purchased John 

Grey's home-lot on the Frost Square. He became a dividend land holder in the town, and was 

for some years an "ordinary " or inn-keeper. He died in 1691. His will is dated 30. Oct. 1690, 

in which he mentions that he was '' well .stricken in years." To his wife Rebecca he gave the use 



404 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD 

of the S. E. end of his dweUing house, house-hold goods &aU moveable estate &c. ; to his s. Joseph 
he gave 5=' he having also received his full portion of his estate, & to s'd. Joseph's d. 20-=' & to his 
other three children i^ each ; to his ss. Jonathan, Israel & Henry he gave all his lands, & all 
things which he had already divided to them by deed of gift ; to his d. Elizabeth, the wife of 
Sergt. John Wheeler 20=', & to each of her children i=- ; to his d. Abigail, the wife of Thomas Jones, 
20^- & to each of the children i^- ; to Rebecca w. of Ebenezer Smith 20=-, & to each of her children 
i^- ; to d. Mary w. of Daniel Frost 20^, & to each of her children i^- ; & 5;^. to his grandson Jona- 
than Smith, then living with him. He left his wife sole executrix of his will, & his loving 
friends Capt. John Burr, & Sergt. John Thompson over-seers of his estate. His s. Henry died the 
same year 1691. 

Jonathan i. s. of Henry Rowland i , m. Abigail d. of John Barlow 2. 28, Jan. i6gS, & died 
in i6gi. 

Joseph i. s. of Henry Rowland i., settled, at Greenfield, & m. Sarah d. of Antony Wilson. 
His older children were not bapt. until of age. When the Greenfield parish was formed in 1726, 
he with his second wife Abigail, "covenanted & were bapt. the same year; his d. Sarah cov. & 
bapt. 24, April 1726 ; Mary, Hannah & Deborah, all cov. & bapt. 26, June 1726 ; s. Joseph bapt. 
at the same time. G. H. Par. Rec. 

Joseph 2. s. of Joseph Rowland :., settled at Greenfield, & m. Sarah d. of . Their 

children were Sarah and Abigail bapt. 24. Aprd 1726, at F. ; Hannah bapt. in infancy ; Joseph 
bapt. II. Aug. 1746 ; x Jeremiah b. 12. Sept. 1748 ; Daniel b. April 1750 ; Jeremiah again b. 30. 
July 1758. G. H. Par. Rec. 

Israel i. s. of Henry Rowland l., inherited the family homestead on the Frost Square, it 

having been deeded him by his father in i68g. He m. d. of Their children 

were Mary & Elizabeth, bapt. 10. March 1694^; Bethiah 13. June 1697 ; Rebecca 5. April 1702; 
Deborah 3. Oct. 1703 ; Jude-anne 2. June 1706; John i. Oct. 17^0. F. Par. Rec. 

Samuel s. of Rowland, m. d. of Their children were Grace bapt. 19. 

June 1709 ; Samuel i. July 1711; David 21. Nov 1714 ; Andrew s. of Samuel & Abigail (prob. 
second wife) 22. May 1737 ; Grace again 8. Oct. 1738 ; Abigail 27. Feb. 1742^ F. Par. Rec. 

Savage does not seem to be able to reconcile the relation of the early Stratford Samuel, to the 
Fairfield branch of the family. He says " Samuel may have been father to Henry i. of F., but 
possibly his d. Elizabeth m. before 1640, James Rogers, to whose eldest s. Samuel, he gave a large 
estate." 

The Rowlands of F. have always stood among the leading citizens of the town, holding offices 
of trust & influence. The late Henry Rowland Esqr. whose elegant mansion stands on Obadiah 
Gilbert's lot, s. w. of the old Burr homestead, is one of the most imposing in the town. 

SANDFORD 

Ezekiel Sandford was an English Engineer, & had charge of the erection of the stockade 
fort at Saybrook, which guarded the mouth of the Connecticut River. [Charles Burr Todd's Hist, 
of Redding p. 215.] He was probably from the Milford branch'of this family in New England. 
He was in F. before 1660, where he m. Rebecca d. of Henry Whelpley 25. April 1665. Their 
children were Sarah b. 5, March 1666 ; Ezekiel 6, March 1668 ; Mary 3. April 1670 ; Rebecca 13. 
Dec 1672 ;■ Thomas 2. May 1675 ; Martha 29, June 1677 ; Elizabeth 6, Sept. 1679. Sarah m. 
Cornelius Hull 2. ; Mary m. Theophilus Hull i.; & Rebecca m. John Seely. T. Rec. 

Ezekiel s. of Ezekiel Sandford i, m. d. of . Their children were Joseph, 

Lemuel, Zeckariah & Ezekiel, all bapt. at F. 27, May 1705 ; Rebecca 23. Feb 1706^; Ephraim 
27, March 1709 ; Abigail 29, Aug. 1714 ; Elnathan i, Sept. 1717 ; Ruth 28, June 1719. F. Par. 
Rec. 

Thomas s. of Ezekiel Sandford i., m. d. of . Their children were Eliza- 



GENEALOGIES 405 

beth, Hannah, & Eunice, all bapt. 26. Aug 1705 ; Thomas 4. Oct 1707 ; David 24. Feb 1711-!-' ; 
Mary 2. May 1714 ; Sarah 11. Nov 1716; Tabitha 25. Jan 171S'- ; Tamar 16. Aug 1724. F. 
Par. Rec. 

The Sandfotds first Hved at Pequonnock, where Ezekiel I., owned a considerable land, & was a 
large dividend holder of lands in the township. His descendants were among the first settlers of 
Redding, where the name is still found to this day. His sons Ezekiel & Thomas Sandford agreed 
to divide their long-lot, which stretched up into Redding in 1699, & upon which they & their heirs 
settled. 

SEELEY 

Robert Seeley probably came with Winthrop's fleet, & was made a freeman of Mass. Colony 
18. May 1631, with Jehu Burr, Thomas Ford & William Bateman. He settled at Watertown ; was 
surveyor in 1634 ; removed to Weathersficld in 1636, & the same yr, was appointed by the Gen. 
Ct. of Conn, to take an inventory of John Oldham's estate. On the i. of May 1637, he was 
appointed as first Leut. of Capt. John Mason's expedition against the Pequot Indians, on the Mystic 
& Pequot or Thames Rivers. He proved a valiant soldier, & was one of the first, if not the first 
to enter the Mystic, fort & to clear away the brushwood entrance, after Capt. Mason had leaped 
over it. He received a wound in the eye-brow during the encounter. On the 2. of June follow- 
ing, the Gen. Ct. gave him command of thirty men out of the Connecticut River plantations, " to 
sit down in the Pequot country & river, in place convenient, to maintain the right that God by con- 
quest has given them." For his services he was paid 20= a week, "the week to consist of six 
days ; " & 150 bushels of corn from the inhabitants of Weathersficld. In 1639 he joined the New 
Haven Colony, where his name appears among the first list of freemen of that year. He signed 
the fundamental agreement, at the gathering of the church 4. June of the same year. In Oct. he 
was admitted a member of the Gen. Ct. of New Haven with others, who had been " members of 
other approved chuiches." At the same time he was chosen marshal ; " his employment & 
charge, from time to time, was to warn courts, according to the direction of the magisfrates, to 
secure & execute warrants ; to attend the court at all times, to be ready & diligent in his person, 
or by his deputy to execute the sentence of the court ; & in all other occasions to attend the service 
of the plantation in things appertaining to his office." He was given leave to return to England 
in 1646, but came back in a few years, & in 1654, he led the forces raised in New Haven to be 
placed under the command of the English officers Sedgwick & Leavitt against the New Nether- 
lands ; but fortunately no blood was shed, by the timely tidings of peace in Europe: [New Haven 
Col. Rec.]. In 1662 the Gen. Ct. awarded him 15. ;[^. out of the public treasury, & ordered that the 
house at the Say Brook Fort, should be repaired for his use, while he took charge of the ammuni- 
tion of the fortress. In Oct. of the same year, he was chosen by the Gen. Ct. of Conn, commis- 
sioner for Huntington, L. I. In May 1663, the Gen. Ct., after considering a controversy between 
him & the inhabitants of Stratford, ordered that town to pay him 2s£. in some current pay, & he 
was to make over to the town his lands there, whether he purchased them of the Indians, or 
received a grant of them from the town. In the same year he was appointed the chief Military 
officer of Huntington, to exercise their trained soldiers. Savage says he was in New York after it's 
conquest & there died. His widow Mary administered upon his estate 19. Oct. 1668. 

Lieut Nathaniel s. of Robert Seeley i., who was in New Haven in 1646, about 1649. m. 
Mary d. of Benjamin Tuiney ; [A. F. T. Deeds] ; removed to F., & was made a freeman in 1647. 
He again m. Elizabeth, widow of Nehemiah Olmstead (who was probably a d. of Jehue Burr i.) 
In 1673, he recorded a grant of land from the town of 8 acres. & by part purchase land adjoining his 
home-lot, called Seeley's Neck, bounded n. with a highway at ordinary high tide ; e. & s. with 
creek or part of it, & on all other sides with his own land. He also purchased " a sedge marsh of 
15 acres, lying between Paul's Neck & Seeley's Neck ; " bounded s. w. with the meadow of Wiliiam 
Hill & the commons. " He was not allowed to go further than his present dam, between Paul's 



4:6 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD 

Neck & a little Island west of it ; no farther southward than his dam from the little Island, that ran 
into the east end of Paul's Neck, or between the two abovesaid dams, & the edge of the upland 
bank, next his marsh on the top of the bank, bounded on the n. e. with the sedge marsh ; n. w. 
with his own land, & the south bend of the highway, before his house & the land of Robert 
Turney." * In 1675, he was commissioned by the Gen. Ct. of Conn. Lieut, of F. county in Philip's 
War, & was killed on the ig. Dec. in the Great Swamp Fight, while gallantly leading his men 
over the gnarled log or tree, at the entrance of the Indian fort. He left 10. children, namely, 
Nathaniel, Robert, Benjamin, Joseph, John, Mary, Sarah, Bhebe & Rebecca. Elizabeth his widow 
deeded land to her son Obediah Seeley, after the death of her husband. 

Obediah Seeley, probably s. of Lieut. Robert i. settled at Stamford & m. the widow of John 
Miller of that place, but died in 1657, leaving widow & sons, Obediah, Cornelius & Jonas. 
Savage's. Gen. Die. 

Sergt. Nathaniel 2., s. of Lieut. Nathaniel Seeley i., settled at F. & m. Hanriah d. of John 
Odell I. Their children were Nathaniel b. 24. May 1678 ; James ig. April 1681 ; & probably 
others. He was deeded by his father the seventh part of his interest in his Perpetual Common. 
He sold in 1687 his interest in the nine score acres of land, given his father by the Indians at the 
junction of the Saugtauck & Aspetuck rivers, to his brothers Joseph & John. He was a large 
land holder in F. He died 1688. His widow m. Isaac Stirling. 

Robert Seeley s. of- Nathaniel i., m Sarah d. of & had sons Joseph & John & d. Sarah. 

He died early. 

Benjamin s. of Nathaniel Seeley i., purchased in 1678, his father's mansion-house of his 
brother Nathaniel, as administrator on the estate of their deceased father. He m. a d. of John 
Sturges I., & sold to his father-in-law, John Sturges, one half of the family mansion, in which Joseph 
Turney lived, (who had m his sister). No record of his children is found. 

Lieut. Joseph s. of Lieut. Nathaniel Seeley i.,m. Sarah d. of , & settled at Pequonnock. 

Their children were Ephraim b. g. Sept. 1684 ; Samuel 12. April 1686. Both he & his wife were 
members of the church at Pequonnock in i6g5. F. T. & Pequonnock C. Rec. 

John s. of Nathaniel Seeley i., settled at F., & m. Rebecca d. of Ezekiel Sandford i. He next 
m. Sarah, d. of George Squire. His children were Sarah bapt. 28. Oct. i6g4 ; John the father died 
soon after, & his son Nehemiah was baptized by his mother Sarah, 12. July 1696 ; & sons Robert 
& Nathaniel, & d. Sarah 30. Aug. 1696. F. T. Rec. 

SILLIMAN 
Daniel Sillivant, Silleman or Sillemant, was in Fairfield 1658. The name is derived from 
a silly-man, not silly or witless, as the word is used in modern times, but innocent, free of guile, — a 
good man. About 1690 the name came to be spelled Silliman. Whether the above Daniel was 
related to Daniel Sillivant or Selevant of New Haven, who married before 1652 Abigail only d. of 
James Colef of Hartford, is the Daniel S., who m. 17. Oct. 1654 Eliza Lamberton, d. of Capt. 
George Lamberton, (master of the famous Phantom ship, or the ship in the Air, lost in 1646), 
Savage does not seem to be able to reconcile. Pie states that in ihe New Haven records one 
William Trowbridge 9. March 1667 was married at Milford to Elizabeth widow of Daniel Sillivant 
& d. of George Lamberton. " But before this m. & after the death of Sillivant, his, Lamberton's 
widow Elizabeth, had, Oct. 1655, conveyed to John Cole of Hartford, the house & lands given to 
her husband & his former wife Abigail, by James Cole her father in his will," yet he goes on to 
state, " that the said Daniel died in Virginia in 1655, leaving a will, probated in June of the same 

*This valuable record gives the full clue to the situation of Paul's Neck & Seeley's Neck. 

t James Cole m. the widow of Edwards in England, who was the mother of William Edwards of 

Hartford. Richard the son of this William Edwards, m. Mary d. of Lieut Col. John Talcott of Hartford by his 
first wife Helena Wakeman, d. of Rev. John Wakeman of New Haven.— Goodwin. 



GENEALOGIES 407 

year, naming widow ; but there have been doubis, however indistinct, if the name were not the 
same with the (Uaniel SiUiman) man's in the former article." Turning to the 4S p. of Goodwin's 
Genealogical Notes, I find that he spells this name SuUavane & not Sillevant as Savage has it ; but 
it is plain that Daniel Sullavane & Daniel Sillevant were one &. the same, who married James 
Cole's d : Abigail. The probability is that this Daniel Sillivant was closely related to the Daniel 
of F. Tradition relates that the first Daniel of F. was from Holland. Savage goes on to say, 
'■& the derivation is quite distinct from the city of Lucca in Italy, in the early days of the Prot- 
estant reformation throughout Geneva, where had settled the father of one Daniel. This Daniel 
was chosen in 1575, into the Council of 200 for that Republic." It has been suggested by persons 
familiar with the nomenclature & pronunciation of family names, that this Sillivant may have been 
of Irish extraction. Close investigation upon this suggestion may lead to a clearer solution of facts. 

Daniel Sillivant i. of F. entered into a marriage contract in July 1661 with Peacabic, the 
widow of John Eggleston* of F. He purchased of Joseph Middlebrook sr.. as administrator on 
the estate of John Eggleston, ten acres of land left for the use of Eggleston's son, bounded n. & 
w. with a highway, s. c. with a run of water lying on the other side of the mill-creek, under the 
hill (Uncoway creek) near the place where Samuel Morehouse's old mill stood. This lot was s. 
w. of the present Black Rock bridge. He was afterwards granted 2^ acres " at the wading place," 
over the creed, bounded west by a sedge marsh, the town reserving the right to use the stones to 
build a bridge over said creek. By his m. with Peacable Eggleston, it is said he had sons Daniel, 
Thomas & Robert. His second wife was Hannara, Henichyor Hannah widow of '' Hendrick " or 
" Henry Hendrickson." He was a man of influence, & was one of the land dividend holders in 
the town. He died intestate in 1690. The inventory of his estate, valued at 302;^. 14^ 6<^. . was 
made 13, of Jan 1690"^. His property was divided between his widow " Hannara" & his three 
sons. 

Daniel 2. s. of Daniel Silliman i., m. Abigail d. of who was not bapt. until 30, 

Dec. 1694. Their children were Daniel, John, Abigail, Mary, & Peacable, all bapt. 12. May 
1695 ; & Jemima 11. April 1697. F. Par. Rec. Daniel the father died in 1697. 

Thomas Silliman died a bachelor in 1712 ; & his estate was divided between his brother 
Robert & the children of Daniel 2. 

Capt. John i., s. of Daniel Silliman 2. m. Annah d. of . Their children were Sarah 

bapt. 23. March 1717-'' ; Anne i. Nov. 1719 ; Abigail 5. Nov. 1721 ; Mary 23. Feb. 1723^^ 

Daniel 3. s. of Daniel Silliman 2. m. Thankful d. of & died in 1717. He does 

not appear to have had any children. 

Robert I., s. of Daniel Silliman i. m. Sarah d. of Cornelius Hull i. . Their children were 
Sarah bapt. 16. Sept. 1694 ; Nathaniel 27. Sept. 1696 ; Anne 12. March 169S- ; Martha 24. Aug: 
T701 ; Robert 19. March 1703''-; Rebecca 8. April 1705 ; Ebenezer 21. Sept. 1707. Robert the 
i ither died in 1748. 

Robert 2. s. of Robert Silliman i. m. 20. Oct 1715, Ruth d. of Samuel Tredwell of Pequon- 
nock. Their children were Robert, b. 26. Sept. 1716 ; Ruth bapt. 24. Aug 1718 ; Daniel b. 31. 
Dec 1722; Sarah b. 17. Feb 1728^ ; John b. 9. April 1731. Ruth wife of Robert Silliman died 
15. March 1756 ; & he m. 2^ wife Mary Morehouse 14. Dec. 1756. Their children were Ruth b. 
19. Aug 1760, & perhaps others. 

Ebenezer s. of Robert Silliman i. m. 8. Oct. 1728, Abigail d. of Gold Selleck of Stamford. 
Their children were Gold Selleck, b, 7, May 1732, & bapt. 14. May following ; Ebenezer b. 21. 
June 1734 & bapt. 7. July of same year; Amelia b, 30. Oct. 1736 & bapt. 31. Oct. next day ; 
Hezekiah b, 11. March 1738 '9, & bapt. 18. March following ; Jonathan b. 31. Aug. & bapt. 5. Sept. 
1742 ; Abigail b. 28. Oct. 1745, & bapt. 10. Nov. same year ; Deodate b. 13, Sept. 1749 & bapt 31. 
Dec. An illustration of early baptisms. 

* John Eggleston died in 1659. leaving one son John, who died not many years after his father. 



408 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD 

Gen. Gold Selleck, s. of Ebenezer Silliman i. m. 2i. Jan 1754 Martha d. of Rev. John & 
Martha Gold Selleck Davenport. Their children were William, b. 22. July 1756 ; Priscilla b. 22 
June 1772 & d. 23. Nov. 1773. Mrs. Martha Silliman d. i. Aug. 1773. Gen. Gold Selleck 
Silliman m. 2'^> 24. May 1775 at Stonington, Mary wid. of Rev. Joseph Noycs of New Haven, & 
d. of Rev. Joseph Fish of Stonington, & great grand daughter of John Alden & Priscilla Mullens. 
Their children were Gold Selleck, b. 26. Oct. 1777, & Benjamin b. 8. Aug. 1779 a well-known law- 
yer of New York. Gen Silliman d. 21. July 1790. His son Gold Selleck d. in Brooklyn L. I. 1868. 
Benjamin became the distinguished professor of Yale College, who d. in 1S64 at a ripe old age & 
crowned with many honors. He left a son Benjamin, Mho also became a professor of distinction 
at Yale. William Silliman, s of Gen. Gold Selleck Silliman was a Major in the Revolution. 

SHERWOOD 

Thomas Sherwood was born 1585-6 in England. In April, 1634, he, his wife Alice, and 
children Ann, Rose, Thomas and Rel)ecca, sailed from Ipswich, Co. Suffolk, England, in ship 
Frances. He was for a time at Wethersfield, Conn., and appeared at Fairfield as early as 1648, 
when a bill of sale 'of land to John Holly by Sherwood, appears on Stamford (Ct.) land records. 
In 1650 he bought land at Barlow's Plain, Fairfield. His will, dated July 21, 1655, and offered for 
probate Oct. 25th of same year, names children by first \v\ie,Jane, Tomson, (probably Thomasine.) 
Margaret, Sarah, Hannah, (probably the "Ann" of 1634,) Rose,^ Thomas- and Rebecca.^ It 
also mentions his second wife Mary and her children, as follows : Stephen, Matthew, Mary, Ruth, 
Abigail and Isaac, fourteen children in all. His estate amounted to ^^392. His widow Mary 
married John Banks, a prominent man at Fairfield, afterwards at Rye, N. Y. She died 1693/4, 
John Banks having died in 1684. 

Of above children, it is probable that Jane Tomson, Margaret and Sarah remained in Eng- 
land, their father's age being mentioned as 48 when he came to America. 

Of Rose ^ nothing positive is known, but she was probably the Rose who married i?^, Thomas 
Rumble of Stafford, 2I Thomas Barlow of Fairfield, and 3^ Edward Nash of Norwalk. In 1699 
Edward Nash, then of Norwalk, deeded land to his kinsman, Isaac Sherwood. 

Thomas - Sherwood (Thomas ' ) is called ten years of age in 1634, when his father came over. 
He was admitted freeman at Hartford Oct. 13, 1664. He was the first miller at Mill River, in 
Fairfield. He married four times, as follows : 

First, Sarah Wheeler, dau. Thomas and Anne Wheeler, by whom he had : 

Thomas, 3 born before 1654 ; died 1699, at Fairfield. 

Sarah, 3 born before 1659 ; she married John Whitlock. 

Sarah Wheeler died before Aug. 21, 1659. 

Second, Ann Tumey, dau. Benjamin and Mary Tumey, and had : 

Mary 3 ; she married David Whitlock 

Benjamin 3 ; died about 1737. 

Samuel, 3 who died June, 1725, at Fairfield. 

Ruth, 3 

Hannah 3 

Abigail, 3 married David Ogden. who died May i, 1744, at Greenfield, in 74th year. 

Third, Elizabeth Cable, widow of John Cable, Jr., by whom he had : 

Isaac, 3 died 1748 at Norwalk, Ct. 

Phoebe, 3 who married Samuel Bradley, Sr. 

Fourth, Sarah Coley, widow of Peter Coley and daughter of Humphrey Hide. By her he had 
no children. 

Thomas- Sherwood died in Fairfield, 1697. 

Stephen - Sherwood married three times, as follows : 



GENEALOGIES 4O9 

First, Rebecca Tumey, daughter Benjamin and Mary Tumey. 

Second, Hannah (Jackson) Galpin, widow of Philip Galpin and daughter of Henry Jackson. 
This marriage took place between May 22, 1686, and Oct. 30, 168S. 

'J'hird. Mary Merwin, widow of Merwin before that widow of Luke Guire, and daugh- 
ter Edward and Mary Adams. This marriage took place between i6g7 and ryoi. No children by 
her. Mary (Adams) [Guire] [Merwin] Sherwood was born in 1647 and died 1712, a widow, at 
Fairfield. 

Stephen Sherwood's children, of whom possibly four were by second wife, were • 

Stephen 3; died about 1713 at Rye, N. Y. 

Joseph, 3 

Daniel 3 ; died 1715 at Fairfield. 

Mary ,3 who married Daniel Burr of Fairfield as his second wife. She died before 1696. 

Nathaniel, 3 died 1733, at Rye, N. Y., leaving nine children. 

Jabez, 3 died about 1704 at Greenwich, Ct., utimd. 

Jonathan, 3 of Rye, N. Y., in 1731. 

Samuel, 3 of Rye, N. Y., in 1743. 

Andrew, 3 died before 1736 at Rye, N. Y., leaving son Daniel. 

John, 3 died about 1 731 at Rye, N. Y. 

Ruth, 3 who married a Merritt. 
- Matthew 2 Sherwood (Thomas ' ), known as Captain Matthew, died Oct. 26, 1715. at Stratfield, 
(now Briageport,) Ct., in his 72^ year. He married, ist. Sarah Tumey, daughter Benjamin and 
Mary Tumey, by whom he had : 

• Matthew, 3 who died 1709 at Fairfield 

Captain Matthew ^ Sherwood, married 2?-, Mary Fitch, daughter Thomas Fitch of Norwalk, Ct.t 
By her he had : 

Samuel, 3 who died Nov. 10, 1732, at Stratfield, in his 52^? year, of malignant fever. 

Lemuels ; died Sep. 2, 1732, at Stratfield, of dropsy. 

John 3 ; died 1696 at Stratford, Ct. 

Mary ;3died Sep. 16, 1752, at Montville, Ct. 

Sarah 3 ; died May 25. 1743, at Stratfield, in 67th year. 

Ann 3 

Mary (Fitch) Sherwood died Dec. 25, 1730, ae. abt. 87. Her grave stone has word " about " 
on it. 

Ruth^ Sherwood (Thomas ' )> is probably the Ruth Sherwood who married Joshua Holcomb of 
Simsbury, Ct., June 4, 1662 3. (Savage, Vol. 5, p. 227.) - 

Isaac ^ Sherwood (Thomas ' ) married Elizabeth Jackson, dau. John and Elizabeth Jackson 
before 1676, when he received grant from town of Eastchester, N. Y. In 1678 he was of Rye, 
N. Y., and in 16S7 bought land at Compo, (Westport,) Ct., where he was still living in 1733. 
His children were Daniel, 3 I-saac,3 John, 3 David, 3 Abigail, 3 Thomas, 3 and Elizabeth. 3 

Thomas3 Sher^vood (Thomas = Thomas ') married Sarah . His children were : 

William,* who is mentioned as having been at Cape May ; 

Rebecca;* Mary*; Ruth*; Margery*; Thomas*; Evis. * This family removed to East- 
chester, N. Y. 

Benjamin 3 Sherwood (Thomas, = Thomas' ) married Sarah . His children were : 

Mindwell, *b.Sep. 8. 1696 ; 

Mary, * b. Jan. 8, 1692 3 ; 

Benjamin,* b. Mch. i, 1700/1 ; 

Joseph, *b. Nov. 2T, 1702 ; 
■ Noah,* b. May 8, 1707; 



410 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD 

Sarah, t b. Aug. 12, 171 1 ; 

Samuel 3 Sherwood (Thomasr Thomas') married at Fairrield and had : 

Sarah ^ ; 

Samuel ^ ; md. Jane Burr. 

Abigail * ; 

Anne 4 ; 

Daniel/ b. Apl. 5, 1708 ; d. Feb. 20, 1784, at Greenfield. 

Ruth 3 Sherwood (Thomas^ Thomas') married ist Samuel Drake, son Samuel and Ann (Bar- 
low) Drake. 2^, John Barlow, son John and Abigail (Lockwood) Barlow. 

Hannahs Sherwood (Thomas- Thomas') married ist, John Bradley, eldest son Francis and 
Ruth (Barlow) Bradley, and had : 

Abigail "* Bradley : 

John'* Bradley. 

Elizabeth'* Bradley: 

Ruth 4 Bradley : 

Joseph'* Bradley, from whom is descended Chief Justice Joseph P. Bradley. 

Hannah'* Bradley. 

Hannahs Sherwood married 21!, Cornelius Jones of Stamford, Ct., by whom she had Rebecca, 
Samuel, Deborah and Nathan. 

f-~' Isaacs Sherwood (Thomas = Thomas') was at Norwalk, Ct., as early as 1694. He married 
Mary and had : 

Isaac, '* 

Rebecca, '* 

Elizabeth, 4 

John. 4 

Stephens Sherwood (Stephen = Thomas') married Mary (probably Hoyt.) His children were : 

Mary 4 

Stephen 4 . . 

Jo^epTi's "Sherwood (Stephen ^ Thomas ' ) married Elizabeth . Children : 

Joseph, 4 Elizabeth, 4 Phoebe/ all of Rye, N. Y. 

Daniels Sherwood (son Stephen ^^ ) married Tabitha . He left no children. 

Matthew Sherwood, Jrs (son Capt. Matthew) married Elizabeth Morehouse, dau. Samuel. and 
Rebecca (Odell) Morehouse, and died 1709, leaving daughter, Sarah, 4 who married Timothy Tred- 
well. She died before 1713. 

Samuels Sherwood, (son Capt. Matthew,) married Rebecca Burr, dau. Nathaniel and Sarah 
(Ward) Burr, Nov. 30, 1704. Burr Genealogy is wrong in saying she was daughter of Nathaniers 
second wife Ann. '~ 

Samuel s Sherwood's children : 

John 4 ; first minister Baptist church at Stratfield. . 

Nathaniel. 4 

Sarah. 4 

Mary. 4 

Abigail. 4 

Rebecca.4 ' 

Esther.4 

Thomas. 4 , 

Andrew. 4 

Samuels Sherwood married 1^ , Mary (Wheeler) Jackson, widow of Henry Jackson and 
daughter of Isaac and Martha (Park) Wheeler, by whom he had : 

Prudence. 4 



GENEALOGIES 4I I 

Lemuel 3 Sherwood (son Capt. Matthew) was known as Deacon Lemuel, and was Town Clerk 
many years. 

lie married ist, Ann Wheeler, dau. Sergeant John and Elizabeth (Rowland) Wheeler. A 
Nathan Sherwood, born 1703, afterwards of Stamford, was son of Lemuel, probably by the first 
wife. Lemuel, in his will (1732) calls Matthew " my eldest son." 

Dea. LemueLSherwood md. 2^, Experience ^Vheeler. dau. Isaac and Martha (Park) Wheeler, 
May 17, 1711, by whom he had : Matthew, •• Hannah*; Anne*; Abiah* (md. David Middlebrooks 

of Stratford) ; Mehetable* (md Ilubbcll), and Andrew,* Anne Sherwood married John 

Brooks of Stratford. 

Dea. Lemuel Sherwood md. 3d Joannah Phippcny, (probably widow James Phippeny,) Mch. 
8, 1722. 

Dea. Lemuel Sherwood md. 4<li, Anne Silliman, dau. Robert and Sarah (Hull) Silliman, June » 
27, 1728, and had : 

Experience.* 

Samuel.* 

Hannah.* ' 

John 3 Slierwood (Matthew - Thomas ' ) married Joannah Booth, dau. Ephraim and Mary Booth 
and had : Jemimah, who married John Gold. 

Mary 3 Sherwood (Matthew- Thomas') married V}, Captain Daniel Pitch, son Rev. James 
and Priscilla (Mason) Filch of Norwich, Ct. , by whom she had five children. ) 

She married 2'^ , Joseph Bradford, son of Major William and Widow (Wiswall) Braaford, aud 
grandson of Gov. William Bradford, by whom she had one ch'M, Jo/di, Bradford, born May 20, 
1717, at Mohegan ; died March 10, 17S7, at Montville, Ct. 

Sarahs Sherwood (dau. Capt. Matthew-) married 1st, Ephraim Wheeler ; 2"? Benjamin Fayer- 
weather ; 3<* , Anthony Nouguier, the latter a money-lender of that period. 

Ann 3 Sherwood, (dau. Capt. Matthew), married 1=' Joseph Trowbridge ; 2*?, Caleb Fairchild. 

By W. L. Sherwood, of Newark, N. J., 

Author of The Sherwood Genealogy. 

SPRAGUE 

W'lLLlAM Sprague who Settled at F., was probably of tlie Hingham family of Spragues, &yet I 
find no connecting link. His record of lands at F. was recorded 23. Oct 16S0. He m. Hannah 
d. of Humphrey Hide i, & purchased of Samuel Coley 25. June 1696, the home-lot which his 
grandfather Humphrey Hide left him next the rocks. On the 25. of Jan. 1697", he sold one half 
of this home-lot to Jonathan Sturgis, bounded n. w. with the rocks, s. w. land of said Jonathan 
Sturgis, & n. e. with the highway. He also sold said Jonathan Sturgis land lying s. w. of this, & 
the east end of his dwelling house, with the chimneys, all his bedding, trammels, tongs, kettles, or 
whatsoever he possessed in F.; & with the consent of his nonage d. Hannah four acres in Mill 
Plain. Benjamin Rumsey & John Hyde purchased through Philip Lewis, the long-lot which 
Sprague sold to said Lewis. Besides the d. Hannah above mentioned, there was born to William 
Sprague a s. Humphrey 8. June 1680. _ 

SQUIRE 

George Squire or Squier i. was at Concord in 1642, where, says Savage, he had a s. b. 11. 
March 1643, & removed to F. about 1644, probably with the Rev. John Jones, or very soofi after. 
He was one of the sharers in the land dividends of the township. His children were, Thomas, 
John, Jonathan, Samuel. & d. Sarah who m. John Seely. He mentions his grand-son George, s. of 
his s. George, in his will. 



412 



HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD 



i 



George 2. s. of George Squire i., was propounded for a freeman in 1672, but d. as early as 
1674, leaving a s. George. 

Sergt. Thomas i., s. of George Squire i. was propounded for a freeman with his brother 
George in 1672. He was an early settler At Wogdhury. Savage thinks he was first at Stratford 
He d. 9. April 1712, leaving s.s. Thomas ; Samuel ; Ebenezer ; John ; & ds. Hannah ; Martha : 
Sarah ; Elizabeth ; all bapt. — Aug. 1697. He had another s. Joseph b. 25. Dec 1698. His 
descendants were numerous & highly respectable. See " Cothren's Hist, of Ancient Woodbury." j 

\ Jonathan i s. of George Squire i. m. d. of . Their children were : Abigail bapt. 

II. Nov. 169^. & Deborah 23 July 1699. F. Par Rec. 

Ensign. Samuel i. s. of George Squire i. m d. of— . Their children, were: Joseph. 

John, Samuel & Sarah, all bapt. 16. April 1704 ; Rebecca 17. June 1705, — Benjamin 15 June 1707, 
F. Par. Rec. 

George 3. s. of George Squire 2. was bapt. 5. June 1709; He m. d. of . Their 

children were: George bapt. 6 Dec. 1702 ; Daniel, 30 Jan. 17031 ; Ephraim 6. May 1705 ; Bethyah 
20. Oct. 1706 ; Jane 9. May 170S. Jane again 16. Oct. 1709. F. Par Rec. 

Joseph s. of Samuel Squire i. m. . d. of . d . of . Their children were : Sarah 

bapt. 8. Jan. 1715^- ; Abigail 20. Jan. 1716^-^ ; Joseph 18 May 1718. F. Par Rec. 

Sergt. John, s. of of Samuel Squire i. m. . d. of . There children were : Ebenezer 

bapt. 30. Nov. 1718 ; David 26. June 1720; Benjamin i. July 1722; Hannah 20, Feb. 1725^; 
Elizabeth 16. June 172S ; Nathan 28. Feb. 1730''-. F. Par Rec. 

Jonathan 2. s. of Jonathan Squire i. m. . d. of . They had as. Jonathan b. 27. 

Sept. 1 713, & perhaps had other children. F. Par Rec. 

The Squire family were among the leading men of the town of F. & from George Squire i. are 
to be found professional, military & business men of position & trust throughout the country. 

STAPLES 

Thomas Staples was one of the first five settlers of F., & a freeman in 1669, with others who 
had been long at F. By wife Mary he had children Thomas & John & d. Mary, who was the 2. wife 
of Josiah Harvey; Hannah, whom. John Beach; & Mehitable whom, probably Jonathan Fanton. 
He was a man of remarkable energy of character, & of importance in the town of F. He resided 
on the s. w. side of the Ludlow square. He was a large land holder, & d. before 1688. His wid. 
Mary Staples' will is dated 1696, in which she mentions sons Thomas & John ; Mary w. of Josiah 
Harvey ; Hannah w. of John Beach, grand-child Hannah Harvey, grand-child Mehitable Fanton ; 
her loving friend Mary Slawson, & leaves a book to Abraham Gold by Dr. Preston. 

John Staples i. m. d. of . Their children were: Thomas ; Abigail ; Michael & 

Hezekiah, all bapt. 28. July 1695 ; Hannah 14. Feb. i(iC)b/'] \ John ij. Nov. 1701 ; Demaris & 
Eunice 21. May 1704 , Phebe 16. March 1706^. 

Thomas 2. s. of Thomas Staples I. m. Deborah, d. of . Their children were : Thomas 

bapt. 14. Sept. 1701 ; Samuel 30. May 170S. 

Thomas Staples 3. m. Deborah, d. of . Their children were : Thomas b. 14. Dec. 1735; 

Mary 5. July 1738 ; Ruhamah 17, June 1739 ; Samuel 6. March 1740-L ; Mary 24 Oct. 1742. 

The Staples family appears to have largely settled at Greens Farms & Westport. Among 
the representatives of this name at Westport, is the aged Hon Horace Staples, president of the First 
Nat. Bank, & the liberal founder of the Staples Academy. 

STURGES 

John Sturges, i; sometimes spelled Sturge & Sturgee in the T. Rec, settled at F. in 1660 in 
the 37 year of his age ; & purchased Richard Fowles homestead ; was made a freeman 14. May 1669 ; 



GENEALOGIES 413 

appointed select man the same year, & owned a large estate at F. His will is dated 4, March 
1697", in which he gives to his s. Jonathan his homestead, his sword & various parcels of land ; to 
s. Joseph his fowling-piece, long-gun & various parcels of land ; to s. John his little gun ; to-d. 
Deborah w. of James Rcdtield, several parcels of land, & his negro woman Jenny ; to his grat)d-.<on 
Christopher Sturgis 5,;^ ; to his son-in-law Richard Straten 5*, & to said Straten's five children by 
his d. Sarah ^jC, to be equally divided between them, out of his movtfeble estate ; tod. Abigail w. 
of Simon Couch his negro boy Jack. The rest of his moveable estate, he divided between his two 
dau's ; D ebora h & Abigail. To his absent s. Thomas, " if he ever returned again " he gave 60^, 
out of the rest of his children's property. He had previously given his sons various parcels of land 
in the town. His first residence appears to have been on the n. w. side of the highway, leading 
into Millplain. He m. Deborah, d. of John Barlow. He appears from a T. Rec. to have been 
the father-in-law of Benjamin Seeley, but no mention is made of this dau. in his will. 

Jonathan i. s. of John Sturgis i. (b. in 1650) m. Susannah d. of John Banks i. He died 29. 
Nov. 171 1, leaving a son Jonathan. 

Jonathan 2. s. of Jonathan Sturgis i., m. Sarah d. of David Osborn of Easterchester, 31. July 
1692 (s. of Capt. Richard Osborn I. of F.) Their children were :' Jonathan b. 1679. David b. 7 Jan 
1695 ; .Sarah 22 Dec 1701 ; Abigail 8. Sept 1704 ; Eunice 4. Jan 1709. Jonathan Sturgis the 
father died, & his widow Sarah m. Judge Peter Burr of F. 

Joseph i. s. of John Sturges i., m. Sarah d. of Joseph Beers. Their children were Chris- 
topher ; Joseph, David & Jeremiah, all bapt. 24 May 1696. Solomon 15, May 1698 ; Sarah 10. March 
1699'^"^*; Esther 2. March 1700' ; Abigail 14. June 1702; Jane 12. March 1703*^; Deborah I 
June 1708 ; Benjamins. Feb 1709''^. In his will he mentions second wife Mary ; d. Esther Lines; 
d. Abigail Osborn ; d. Sarah Sherman, & grand-child Mary Dimon. 

John 2. s. of John Sturgis i. m. Mary d. of George Goodwin of F., & pur. in 16S2 of the heirs 
of said Goodwin, his homestead on the high-way leading to Mill Plain. Their children were Benja- 
min b. 30. Dec 1694 ; Ebenezer 23. May 1697 ; Dorothy 2S. Sept 1701 ; Eleazer 30. Oct. 1703 ; 
John 3. March 1705-; Elizabeth 29. Aug 1708 ; Elnalhan 5. Feb 1710^^. In hi§ will he mentions 
second wife Abigail, & d. Abigail, His d. Margery m. Christopher Godfrey. In a deed 2. May 
1729, he gives to his son-in-law's Christopher Godfrey 2. Francis Bradley 2. & David Williams, all 
his right in the long-lots, left him by his honored father John Sturgis, & his father-in-law George 
Goodwin, lying above the Aspetuck river, except what he had already given his sons Benjamin & 
Ebenezer. Benjamin Seeley who settled in East Flampton L. I. appears to have m. one of his 
dau's. 

Peter probably a grand-son of John i. m. Hannah d. of Joshua Jennings. Their children 
were Samuel, Jonathan & Hannah bapt. 16. Sept. 1716 ; David 6 Feb. 1718''-; Grace 8. March 
1723*^; Sarah 15. May 1726 ; Abigail 21. July 1728 ; Anne 25. April 1731 ; Ellen 2£. March 1735. 

David s. of Joseph Sturgis i., m. d. of Their children were Nehemiah, bapt. 8. 

March 1718'''; Elizabeth, 6. March 1719^"; Elizabeth, again 5. March 1720^; The father died 
probably about this time, as another d. Mary was bapt, by her mother. 7. March 1734-. 

Christopher s. of Joseph Sturgis 2., m. d. of «S: settled at Greens Farms near the 

(ireen. Their children were Nathan bapt. 8, Oct 1710 ; Joseph 5. Oct 1712 ; Christopher 4, Sept. 
1715, & probably others. 

Jonathan Sturgis 3. m. Jerushia Thompson, d. of John Thompson 2. & Sarah Gold d. of 
Major Nathan Gold. (Their daughter Sarah m. Ebenezer Wakeman June 24. 1724. They had a 
s. Ebenezer b, 26. June 1725. Ebenezer the father died 25, Sept. 1726 aged 27 years. His wid. 
Sarah m. Lolhrop Lewis 26. July I727)& their youngest daughter Deborah, m. Judge Jonathan 
Sturgis Oct. 26. 1760, who was one of the signers of the Declaration of the Independence of the 
United States ; & the grandfather of the late Jonathan Sturgis of Mill Plain. 



414 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD 

THOMPSON 

John Thompson, who settled at Pequonnock, m. Elizabeth d. of Thomas Sherwood i. He 
died in 1658. His children were Elizabeth aged 13 ; Mary 8 ; John 6 ; & Hester 3. His widow 

Elizabeth entered into a covenant of marriage with Daniel Finch 25 1657. Hester Thompson 

his d. m. Samuel Judson of Stratford. F. T. & Prob. Rec. 

John 2. s. of John Thompson i. m. Sarah d. of Major Nathan Gold 25. April 1684, Their 
children were Jerushia, b. 11. May 1685 ; John, 21. Feb. 1686^: Sarah, 4. Oct. i68g. F. T. 
Rec. David bapt. 3. May i6c)6. F. Par. Rec. Jerushia, m. Jonathan Sturges of F. 

David 1 s. of John Thompson 2. m. d. of Their children were David bapt. 

19. March 1720^ ; David again, 12. May 1723 ; & Sarah 24. May 1724. F. Par. Rec. 

TREADWELL 

Samuel Treadwell was made a freeman of F. in 1670. In 1673, he recorded from the 

town, a pasture & building lot at Pequonnock of 14 acres. He m. Martha d. of . Their 

children were Samuel ; Edward ; John b. 11. Feb. 1674 ; Ruth 20. Jan 1679 who m. Robert 
Silliman 2. 20. Oct. 1715 ; & Ephraim 7. March 1681 : F. T. Rec. 

Edward s. of Samuel Treadwell i. was in 1695 a member of Christ's Church Pequonnock. 
He m. Mary d. of . Their children were. 

John i. s. of Samuel Treadwell i. also lived at Pequonnock. 

Samuel 2. s. of Samuel Treadwell r. settled at Pequonnock & m, Martha d. of . 

TURNEY 

Benjamin Turney i. was first at Concord, Mass. where the birth of three children were 
recorded, namely — Rebecca b. 16. Feb. 1640; Sarah 11. Dec. 1641 ; & Ruth 28. Jan. 1644. He 
was made a freeman 2. June 1641 ; removed to Fairfield soon after, & there had s. Benjamin & 
other children. He died in 1648. His inventory was made 6. June 1648 at which time the record 
of his children were, Mary 17 years old ; Robert 15 ; Judith 13 ; Ann 11 ; Rebecca 8 ; Sarah 6 ; 
Ruth 4 ; Benjamin 3. Savage says that his widow Mary, who was probably the mother of all his 
children, m. Joseph Middlebrook, who had also removed from Concord to Fairfield. His 
daughter Mary, m. Nathaniel Seely & Rebecca m. Stephen Sherwood of Greenwich. The olaer 
children were probably born in England. 

Capt. Robert i., eldest s. of Benjamin Turney i., settled at Pequonnock, & purchased of 
Henry Jackson 24. Dec. 1673, the home-lots of Thomas Wheeler Sr. & Thomas Wheeler jr. 
By his will, dated 31. Dec. 1689, he gives to his s. Benjamin his house & home lot, formerly John 
Wheeler's, lying between James Beer's and John Thompson's home-lot, i of his long-lot & I of 
his perpetual common, other lands & his best sword & belt, when said Benjamin became 20 years 
of age. To s. Robert his two home-lots at F. lying between Mr. William Hill's dec, & in the 
rear of Samuel Grumman's lot, i of his long-lot & the other half of his perpetual common, with 
other lands'. To wife Elizabeth, during her widowhood, the s. e. end of his dwelling house & 
cellar, & i of his movable estate ; the other end of his dwelling house he gave to his s. Benjamin. 
To Joseph Jennings 15s in right of his wife ; 5= to Ephraim Wheeler in right of his dec. wife ; To 
d's Elizabeth, Mary, Ruth, Martha, & Rebecca, minors, all the rest of his movable estate, & 
dividend lands at Compo, Paul's Neck, & Reed Ponds. He appointed his brother in-law Samuel 
Wilson of Fairfield his sole executor ; his loving brethren Sergt. John Wheeler & Benjamin Turney 
to be the over-seers of his estate. He d. soon after, c& his inventory was probated 17. Jan 1690. 
The F. T. Rec. give the following births of his four daughters, Abigail b. 25. Feb. 1661 ; Sarah 
25. Sept. 1663 ; Elizabeth 15. July 1668; Rebecca 10. July 1671. 

Benjamin 2. s. of Benjamin Turney i. of F. , m. Rebecca d. of Ralph Keeler of Norwalk, 
16. Nov 1671. He d. about 1694. Their children were, Benjamin b. 3. Sept 1672 ; Robert 6. 



GENEALOr.ii -> 415 

March, 1673/4 ; Rebecca 16. Oct. 1676 : Thomas -. j .n. ^njS/g, & others. In the F. T. Rec. 
after the father's death, the following children were mentioned, Benjamin aged 22 ; Robert 20 ; 
Rebecca iS ; Thomas & Sarah 15 ; Jemima 8 ; & Jonaihau 4. These children were not baptised 
until 27. Jan. 1694/5, all at the same time. F. Par. Rec. 

The descendants of Benjamin Turney i. to the pr s^'ni; lime, occupy the land at Paul's Neck & 
Concord-field, which the town granted hmi, & which lie willed to his s. Capt. Robert Turney i. 

Concerning the ira/ccLy fainily oi Conn. 
Compiled from the town records of .Stratford, and probate records of Fairfield, Conn., by G. 
M. Bartholomew of Austin, Texas. 

Name often spelled Wakelin, Weaklin, Weakley, Wakelee, etc. 

Richard Wakeley, with Henry, James & Alice, his children,* was in Hartford in 1640. Free- 
man in Haddam in 1669 and died there in 16S1. His will made that year mentions 

Children — 2. Henry, "^i. James, 4. Aliee, mentioned in Hartford court records in 1663; died 
in 1683. 

2. Henry. 

Henry Wakeley, son of Richard (i). born in England. First lawyer of record in Hartford. 
Had two lots there in 1639. Removed to .Stratford ; where widow Elizabeth Curtiss in 1658 names 
him as an executor of her will. Land was granted to him there before 1663, May i6, 1669, and 
May 12, 1681 the General Assembly of Conn., granted him several hundred acres of land "for 
services done by him in & about Mattebeseck, & for some damage he received thereby," and also to 
settle differences between him and Middletown. Represented his brother James, as his Attorney 

in his trouble with the General Court. He married Sarah . She was possibly daughter of W'T" 

Crooker of Stratford, whose land was, after his death (before 1663) confirmed by deed of "pur- 
chase & gift " to him — Henry Wakeley — by widow Crooker & Isaac Nichols. 

He died in 1690 ; mentioning in will of July ir, 1689 besides widow & below named children, 
also Tho's Tattin, & Eliz"? Squier^ as heirs, & Henry Stevens " who lives witii me." Widow Sarah 
was still living Oct, 15, 1709. Children — 5. Deliverance, 6. James, 7. Jacob, 8. Patience, m. 
Timothy Titharton, Oct. 3, 1692 ; 9. Abigail, 10. Mary, m. Henry Stevens bef. 16S9. 

3. James. 
James Wakeley, son of Richard (i) b. in Eng. Removed from Hartford to Welhersfield. 
The General Court Feb'y 23, 1652, judged the Deputies action in marrying James Wakeley and 
widow Boosy to be illegal. She sued for breach of promise. The matter seems to have been 
amicably settled, as he afterwards mentions her as his wife. She was the widow of James Boosy 
a very prominent member of the Gen'l Assembly, in which he represented Welhersfield nearly 
every session until his death. 

He left the Colony in 1666, and lived in Rhode Island. 

A recognizance for his appearance before the Court assistants being forfeited, his house & lands 

were taken to satisfy it. In 1673 & 16S1 he petitioned for abatement of the forfeiture, but without 

success. Mentioned as weaver in Providence R. I., where he deeds his wife Alice, certain portions 

of his property. 

5. Delii'erance. 

Deliverance, son of Henry (2), born proh. in Stratford, m. Hannah Nash, Dec. 3, 1678. 
Lived in Stratford, dying there Nov. 6, 1707. His will Oct. 15, 1707, mentions: Widow, his 
mother, daughters Sarah and Mary & Mary Summers " who has long lived with me." 

His widow m. 2'^ Tho's Witchem. Joseph Buiritt and Nath'l Curtiss, May £, 1722, acknowl- 
edge receipt of all lands due them as his heirs. 

* Authority Hinman. 



41 6 HISTOPV OF FAIRFIELD 

Children — ii. Ebenezer, died Mar 27, 1083 ; 12. Hannah, died Aug. 1683 ; 13. Henry & 
14. Sarah (m. ? Nath'l Curtiss?) Twins born Dec. i, 1683. Henry died Dec. 7, 1683 ; 15. Mary, 
b. March 3, i688-g, m. Joseph Burritt N<.v, 25, 1708. 

6. James. 

James IVakeLy, son of Henry (2). m. i^' possibly a d'au. of Chas. Chauncey of Stratford. 2^^ 
Hannah dau. of Hugh Griffin & wife Dorothy dau. of Thos. Skidmore. Feb'y 26, 1701-2. Lived 
in Stratford. Joined the Episcopal Church June 4, 1724 ; and was made one of its Vestrymen the 
same year. 

In 1713 he sold one half of the land granted his father Henry by the Gen'l Assembly. 

Children — 1'6. James, b. Dec. 28, 1688-9 ; 17. Henry, b. May 15, 1691 ; 18. Joseph, 19. Israel, 
20. Nathaniel, 21 Hannah, m. Nehemiah Allyn of Litchfield, INIay 30, 1728 ; 22. Dinah, m. Daniel 
Curtiss, Nov. 26, 1719 ; 23. Abigail. 

7. Jacob. 

Jacob Wakeley, son Henry (2); m. Hannah Peat Lived in Stratford. 

Children — 24. Jacob, b. Feb'y 10, 1676-7 ; 25. Jonithan, Feb'y 19, 1678-9 ; 26. Ruth, Aug. 
27, 16S1 ; 27. Henry, Jan. 27, 1683 ; 28. Joseph, Sep. 17, 1686 ; 29. Israel, Feb'y 24, 1689 ; 30. 
Nathaniel. 

16. James. 

James IVakeley, son of James (6). b. in Stratford Dec 28, 1688-9 I ^- Sarah dau. of Daniel 
Shelton & wife Elizabeth Wells, dau. of Sam'l & granddau. of Gov. Thos. Wells. Lived in that 
part of Stratford since made the town of Huntington. An original member of the Episcopal 
Church of Stratford Dec. 9, 1722, made a Vestryman in 1729. Children — Baptized — Savah, Nov. 1, 
1722 ; Hannah, Sept. 27, 1723 ; Martha, Jan. 30, 1728; Abigail, Dec. 20, 1730 ; m. Nathan Shel- 
ton. (Their dau. Martha m. her 2'^ cousin Isaac Wells Shelton, cS: his dau. Charity, wife of Asa 
Bartholomew, was descended by three different lines from her great-grandfather Daniel Shelton, 
the emigrant.) James, Feb'y 11, 1733 ; Charity, Aug. 11, 1734. 

18. Joseph. 
Joseph IVakeley, son of James (6) ; m. Elizabeth Clark, April 24, 1723: 
Children — Zebulon, m. Tabetha ; Samuel. 

19. Israel. 
Israel Wakeley, son of James (6) : 
Children — Israel, Deliverance, Ichabod & Thomas. 

25. Jonithan. 
Jonithan Wakeley, son of Jacob (7): b. Feby 10 \b-ib--i ; d. in 1742. 

Children — Jonithan, Jacob, Ebenezer, m. Jemima ; David, m. Abigail Hull ; Mary, m. 

Bennett ; Anne, m. Treadwell ; Prudence, m. Edwards. 

27* Henry. 

Henry Wakeley, son of Jacob (7) ; b. Jan. 27, 16S3 ; m. 1=' Rachel Stratton, Dec. 12, 1706 ; 
she dying March 10, 1707-8. He m. 2.^ Sarah Frost, Jan. 26, 1710-11. 

Children — By i^' m.: Abigail b. Feb. 29, 1707-8 ; m. Thos. Daskum ; by 2^ m., Elizabeth 
b. May 9, 1712 ; Abel, Jan. 16, 1714-15 ; Eunice, Nov. 11, 1717 ; Henry?, Abner Mar. 23, 1723. 

* Nos. 23 & 23 may possibly have been dau's of Jacob (7)— Also No. 27 may have been a little mi.xed with No. 17. 



GENEALOGIES 417 

WAKEMAN 
The Wakman or Wakeman family were conspicuous men in the colonics of Massachusetts, 
New Haven & Connecticut. John Wakeman, probably son of Samuel of Hartford, was the 
treasurer of the New Haven Colony in 1656, & died at Hartford in 1661. Elizabeth, his d. m. 
Samuel Kitchcll of Newark, N. J : another d. m. John Talcott jr. of Hartford. The name of 
Talcott Wakeman is still known, & honored in F. The will of John Wakeman is a singular docu- 
ment. After a grateful acknowledgment to his Maker that he was permitted to enjoy the Con- 
gregational way of worship, he adds : " but I do testify against absolute independency of churches, 
& perfection of any in light or actings, & against compulsion of conscience to concur with the 
church, without inward satisfaction to conscience ; & persecuting such as dissent upon this ground, 
which I take to be an abuse of the power given for edification by Christ, who is only Lord of the 
conscience " * 

The Rev. Samuel Wakeman, son of the above John Wakeman, was educated at Harvard 
College. He probably officiated in the ministry at Fairfield during the last days of the Rev. John 
Jones, & after the death of the latter, became the minister of the parish. He probably taught 
school in Fairfield or Pequonnock, & appears first to have lived at Pequonnock, having in 1663 pur- 
chased Thomas Wheeler's home-lot there. He aftenvards purchased Dr. Thomas Pell's house & 
lot, on the Newton Square, in which he resided for many years with his family. On the 19. of 
Jan 16S2, he purchased of Jacob Gray William Frost's homestead, for his son Capt. Samuel 
Wakeman. He m. Hannah d. of Stephen Goodyear of New Haven, Oct 29, 1656, by whom he 
had five sons, Samuel, Ebenezer, John, Joseph & Jabez, & three daughters, Ann, Elizabeth & 
Mary. In his will dated 8. March 1692 ; he gives an Indian girl Jane her freedom, when she 
arrives at the age of twenty one ; £2- iii money to the treasury at Hartford, to be expended by 
Mr. Jehu Burr in two silver bowls or cups, one of which was to be given to Christ church Fair- 
field, & the other to the society of Fairfield Village. He also left £2- towards a Grammar 
.School at F. ; & to each of his children a Bible. He left a large landed estate, much of which has 
remained among his descendants to the present day. Andrew Wakeman of F., is the j-resent 
occupant of some of this land at Round Hill & Barlow's Plain. Mr Wakeman also owned land 
at Green's Farms & Compo, upon which his children & grandchildren settled. His widow Mrs 
Hannah Wakeman left an estate of over 900 £. ; which was a very large fortune for those days. 

Samuel Wakeman, the oldest son, by a deed of gift from his father 6. Nov. 16SC, lived in 
the home of W™ Frost sr. on the Frost Square. He first m. Mary d. of Jehu Burr jr. who died 
leaving one child named Mary, who m. Samuel Hubbel jr. of F. His second wife was Sarah d. 
of Josiah Knowles of F. He died one year before his father, & his widow Sarah m. Dougal Mac 
Kensie of F. 

Capt. John Wakeman m. Martha d. of Richard Hubbel of Pequonnock 24. April 1687. 
Their children were, Eleanor, b. 24. Aug. 1689 ; Ann 24. March 1682 ; Samuel 24. Feb. 1693^ ; 
Elizabeth i. June 1695. Anne bapt. 17. April 1698. Martha b. 24. Sept. 1700 ; Stephen 15. 
Oct. 1702 ; John 29. Aug. 1705. 

Lieut. Joseph Wakeman m. Elizabeth d. of Maj. John Burr. Their children were 

Ebenezer, bapt. 12, March, 1698/9 
Catherine, " 21, April, 1700 
EHzabeth. " 19. April, 1702 
Joseph, " 14, May, 1704 , 

Jabez, " 10, March, 1705/6 

Samuel, (s. of Capt. Joseph) " 30, Jan. 1708/9 
Mary, " 23, July 1710 

Samuel, '" i, Nov. 1713 

* New Haven Col. Rec. 
27 



4l8 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD 

Capt. Joseph Wakeman willed a Sword to his son Joseph, at the present time in the possession 
of Andrew Wakeman Esq. of Fairfield. 

Rev. Jabez Wakeman m. Eunice widow of Col. Mathew Howel of Southampton, L. I. 29. 
Sept. 1702. His widow married Governor Joseph Talcott of Hartford,* 26. June 1706. Col. 
Rec. Conn. 4, 215. 

Ebenezer died young leaving his estate to his brothers & sisters. 

Ann Wakeman m. Abraham Howell of Southampton, L. I. — Elizabeth m. Mr. Albert Denny 
of Fairfield. — Mary, probably m. Nicholas Clagstone of Fairfield, as this name is given in the 
distribution of Ebenezer Wakeman's estate. * 

The children of Nicholas & Mary Clagstone of F. were 

John, bapt. 23, June, 1695. 
Samuel, " 16. Jan. 1696/7 
Mary, " 18, Sept. T698. 

F. Par. Rec. 
Ezbon Wakeman, was the s. of Samuel Wakeman of Hartford; was at New Haven in 1653 ; 
made a freeman in 1669 ; & m. i. Apr. 1669 at Guilford, Hannah Jordan. He pur. 7. March 
1671 of Isaac Nichols, the Nichols homestead on the Frost Square at F. He was a Lieut, in 1681 
& d. in 1683, leaving an only child Abigail, who m. Thomas Hill, a mariner. His widow m. 
1685, Joseph Bastard of Boston. 

WARD 

Andrew Ward was first in Watertown, Mass. He was there made a freeman 3. March 1634. 
On the 3. of March 1636, he was appointed with Roger Ludlow & six others by the Gen. Ct. of 
Mass.. to govern the colony of Conn, for one year. He was therefore one of the assistants or judges 
of the first legislative body held in Conn, at Newtown or Hartford, on the 26. of April 1636. In 
1638, he was appointed with Capt. John Mason & Mr Allen to go to Agawam or Springfield, " to 
treat with the Indians of Waronocke concerning the tribute towards the charges of the Pequot 
war, to the value of one fathom of wampum a man, & also to the Nawattocke & Pacomtuckett 
Indians one fathom & a quarter a man." He removed to New Haven soon after, & his name is 
there found among the free planters at the gathering of the church on the 4. of June 1639. ^^ 
the 27. of Oct. 1641, he was with Francis Bell represented at Stamford & N. H., & both were 
admitted members of that court, & received the charge of freeman. At a Gen. Ct. held at New 
Haven on the 4. of March 1640, Andrew Ward & Robert Coe of Weathersfield were appointed 
"to treat with that court about the plantation (lately purchased by said town) called Toquams, or 
Stamford." He was appointed constable of Stamford on the 26. of March 1640. At the assem- 
bling of the Gen. Ct. of N. H. on the 5. of April 1643, his letter was presented, written in the 
name of the freeholders, introducing Capt. John Underbill & Richard Gildersleeve, as deputies to 
that court from Stamford ; at the same time requesting that a magistrate might be chosen, for the 
better administration of the prudential affairs of that town. He, with Robert Coe, was appointed 
to assist at the next Gen. Ct. of Election at New Haven, " in counsel & advice for the more comely 
carrying on of public affairs." He was again elected one of the deputies from Stamford to the Gen- 
eral Court of N. H. in 1644 & in 1646. He may have gone, as Trumbull & Goodwin think to 
Hempstead L. I., but he could only have remained there a short time, for, on the 6. of Oct. 1651, 

* From " A Century Sermon " preached by the Rev. Alexander Macwharter, the pastor of the First Presby- 
terian Church at Newark, N. J. in 1807, he makes this statement of Rev. Samuel Wakeman's son Jabez : " Mr. 
Jabez Wakeman was the fourth minister of this church, who was settled here about the year 1701 ; a young man 
of very distinguished abilities & accomplishments, & a remarkably popular preacher. He -possessed superior 
talents for the pulpit. But to the great affliction of the town, he lived only about three years. He died leaving 
a most admirable character." His widow was a daughter of Col. Mathew Howel of Southampton, L. I. She 
afterwards married Governor Joseph Talcott, a son of Lieut. Col- John Talcott of Hartford. 



GENEALOGIES 419 

at the sitting of the General Court at Hartford, he was appointed with John Banks of Fairfield to 
settle the estate of Peter Johnson of F.. At the same time he, with George Hull & William Beards- 
ley of Stratford, were nominated as assistants, " to join with the magistrates for the execution of 
justice in tlie towns of Conn, by the sea-side." About 1651. he purchased Simon Hoyt's home-lot 
w. of Hyde's pond, which he sold in 1653, to Edward Adams ; & purchased from Alexander Bryan 
the same year, Thomas Newton's house and home-lot on the Ludlow Square. He was one of the 
most important. & one of the most influential men in Fairtield. He died in 1665, leaving nine 
children, viz.: Edmund, William, Mary, Andrew, Samuel, Abigail, Ann, John & Sarah. His d. 
Mary m. John Burr 2. . Ann m. Caleb Nichols of Stratford ; & Sarah m. Nathanael Burr. His 
will is dated 3. of June 1659 & prob. at Fairfield " drawn by his own hand," in which, as is stated 
in said will, he declares himself to lie " strong, merry, & well both in body & mind." He gave to 
his wife Esther ;^40 out of his movable estate, & the use of one third of his lands & housing in P., 
during her widowhood ; to his s. John ^^50 at the age of 21 ; to d. Sarah (who afterwards m. 
Nathaniel Burr) ^^400, within one year of her m. ; to d. Abigail £^0, at the age of 18 ; to sons 
Andrew & Samuel, housing & lands to be equally divided between them, when the eldest was 21, 
years of age. All the rest of his children, he states, had received their full portion, except Ed- 
mund, who, in case he returned home, was to receive ;i^20 out of Andrew & Samuel's portions (F. 
T. & Prob. Rec. ) Of John, the first son mentioned in this will, I find nothing at F. ; but Savage 
thinks he was probably the John of Middletown, Ct., who was made a freeman May 1667 at Hart- 
ford ; & v>fho m. iS April 1664, Mary d. of William Harris of Rawley. Their children were John 
b. 15. Nov. 1665 ; Andrew i. Dec. 1667 ; Esther 15. Dec. 1669 ; Mary — Aug. 1672 ; William 30. 
June 1674 ; Samuel in 1679; & another, probably posthumous, who died an infant. Probably he 
died early in 16S4, for his inventory is dated 22. Feb. of that year. His widow m. Josiah Gilbert 
of Weathersfield." — Savage's Gen. Die. Of Edmund I find no account. 

Dr. William, s. of Andrew Ward t. settled at F., & purchased the Perry house & home-lot of 
Dr. Thomas Pell's heirs on the Newton Square, next adjoining that of the Rev. Samuel W' akeman's. 
He was a physician, and was appointed by the Gen. Ct. of Conn, as surgeon, to accompany the F. 
Co. troops in their expeditions against the Narragansetts. He was killed during the war. He m. 

Esther d. of & left one only child Esther. His widow Esther m. in 1678, Ebcnezer 

Hawley of Stratford. Their children were Elizabeth Hawley b. 8. July 1879 i '^ William Hawlcy 
b. about 16S0. Ebenezer the father died in 1681. Esther his w^id. next m. Sept. 1682 Ensign 
Ephraim Nichols, s. of Isaac I. of Stratford, who occupied her first hu.sband's Dr. W^ard's home- 
stead on the Newton Square. Her second husband died in 1690. Their children were Ignatius 
Nichols b. 17. Dec. 1683 ; Disborow Nichols i. Jan 1685 ; & Esther Nichols 18. Dec. 1689. F. 
T. Rec. 

Esther only d. of Dr. William Ward i. m. for her first husband Eliphalet Hill Nov. 1691 (she 
is called in the Town Records, " Esther Nichols the daughter of William Ward ; " which has led 
Savage to state that her mother m. Eliphalet Hill. Their children were William Hill b. 17. Nov 
1692 ; & Ehphalet Hill b. 11. Jan 1694^. Eliphalet, the father died in 1695. (F. T. Rec.) & Esther 
his wid. next m. Robert Lord. Their children were Mary Lord bapt. 21. Aug 1698 ; Abigail 
Lord 5. April 1700 ; Sarah Lord 29. March 1702 & Robert b. . F. Par. Rec. 

Andrew 2. s. of Andrew Ward i. was made a freeman in 1668, & settled at Kenilworth, Conn. 

He m. Trial d. of John Meiges of Guilford. Their children were Andrew b. 1669 ; John 16. 

March 1671 ; Abigail 15. Sept. 1672 ; Sarah 15. Nov. 1674 ; Peter 14. Oct. 1676 ; William 18. 
Oct. 1678 ; Samuel 24, Sept 1680, & died the next year ; Esther 2. May 1684, & died the next 
month ; & Mary & Ann. Andrew the father died about 1691. His s. William died in Walling- 
ford. Conn. 14. Dec. 1769, & was the ancestor of Col. James Ward of Hartford. Andrew 3. s of 
Andrew 2. (Capt.) m. Deborah d. of Jacob Joy, & Elizabeth d. of William Williams of K. He 
had several children, & died Aug. 1756. in the 87. year of his age. His d. Abigail m. Samuel 



420 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD 

Norton of Guilford Ct. 25. Jan. 1692- . His s. Peter m. Mary d. of Isaac Joy of Kenilworth 30. 
March 1693, & had six children. Goodwin's Gen. Notes. 

Samuel i., s. of Andrew "Ward i. was made a freeman of F. 1669. He m. first Alice d. of 
Richard Ogden i., & Savage says for second wife Hannah wid. of Jonathan Judson of Stratford. 
He died before 1693, leaving w. Hannah, & children Edmund, Samuel, Hannah, Sarah & perhaps 
others. The children of Hannah, his wid. by her first husband, were in the inventory of Jonathan 
Nichols' estate of 28. Oct 16S9, Josiah aged 7 ; Mary 4 ; & Jonathan 2. From a will found on 
file in the town-house at F. of the widow of John Judson of Woodbury, eldest s. of Joseph of 
Stratford, she mentions children Josiah,' Mary & Jonathan Nichols & d. Hannah Ward. The 
third husband of wid. Hannah, may have been John Judson of Woodbury, but in this I may be 
mistaken. 

Edmund 2., s. of Samuel Ward i. m d. of & settled at Westchester. In A. 

of F. T. D. is the following : '' Know by all men here present that I. Edmund Ward, belonging 
to the Manor of Fordham, in ye county of Westchester, in y^ Province of New York, made admin- 
istrator on the estate of my honored father Samuel Ward of the town of Fairfield, in ye colony of 
Connecticut, at a special court held in Fairfield 29. March 1692^, have by these present delivered 
over unto my loving brother William Ward, for his legacy of lands & meadows here- under written 
&c : &c. 

28. Dec. 1699 " Edmund Ward. 

Recorded July 19. 1700. 

The Ward family seem almost to have entirely left F. about this time. The following mem- 
bers of this family are to be found in the F. Rec. Moses s. of Ward m. d. of 

. Their children were Samuel bapt. 20. June 1714 ; Rebecca i. April 1716 ; Sarah 12. Jan. 

1717— ; Esther 20. Dec. 1719 ; Abigail 17. Dec. 1721 ; Moses 22. Dec. 1723, 

It is from the Ward family of Fairfield, that the late Rev. Henry Ward Beecher of Brooklyn 

was descended. 

WEBB 

Rev. Joseph Webb entered Harvard College in 1684. He was called to the ministr}- of 
Christs Church F. in Aug 1692, with the offer of a salary of 90;^, & the use of the parsonage lands. 
He accepted the call, & Jonathan Morehouse & Samuel Squire were appt. to remove his family & 
effects to F. It is recorded in B. of T. Votes : " It is to be remembered that Mr. Joseph Webb 
& his family, came to Fairfield on Thursday at night, being y'' 13* of October 1692." On the 20 of 
Jan. 1693 a tax of two pence on the £. was laid upon the townsmen towards collecting his salary ; 
& on the 23 of March following " the town declared that they would give Mr. Webb the house 
called the school house, & the land it stands upon from the rear of Barlows lot, & west to Capt. 
Samuel Wakeman's land, & so much land on the south side as would take in the well, & the land 
eastward 4 rods, & so down to the east end of Barlow's lot, forever. The six acre lot of Thomas 
Barlow was afterwards purchased of the heirs, & added to Mr. Webbs home-lot. 

The Rev. Joseph Webb was m. 'to Elizabeth, the youngest d. of Isaac Nichols of Stratford (b. 
2 April 1668) by the Rev. W"" Curtis 8. July 1691. Their children were : Joseph b. 21 Sept. 1693 ; 
Nehemiah 26. Feb 1695 ; Elizabeth 14. Feb 1696/7 ; Mary 10. March 1697/8 ; Grace 3. Dec. 1700; 
Sarah 30. Jan 1703/-* ; Abigail 5. March 1704/5 ; Josiah 13. March 1706/7. His wife Elizabeth 
died 15. Feb. 1718 (F. T. Rec); & on the 21. Sept. 1721 he m. Mrs. Mehitable Coney of Strat- 
ford (Strat Par. Rec). He died ig Sept. 1732. leaving a large estate, which after his widow 
received her dower, was divided between his children. He had previously given " 200 acres, lying 
in the Parish of Redding " to his son Joseph as a part of his portion. Abigail was given the 
homestead & land adjoining it, in which Mrs. Mehitable Webb was given a life dower. Abigail 
sold her right in the house & land to Benjamin Wynecoop 26. Dec. 1735, & m. Archibald Preston. 
Joseph Webb 2. m. & became a minister at Newark N. J. 



GENEALOGIES 



421 



Elizabeth Webb m. Rev. Samuel Pomeroy of Newton L. I. Sarah Webb m. Mr. John Denny 
of F. 

" Joslah Webb & Susannah Disbrow, d. of Thomas Disbrow were m. Nov. 1729" Their 
children were, Grace b. 7. March 1734 ; Joseph 17. March 1736 ; Disbrow 3. June 1738 ; Nehemiah 
23. Sept 1740 ; Josiah 16. April 1743 ; Elizabeth 28. April 1745 ; Abigail 6. June 1747 ; Isaac 23. 
Aug. 1750 ; Josiah Webb again m. Hannah Sherwood Oct. 1750. Their children were : Hezekiah 
b. 18 Nov. i752;Seth 1754. 

WHEELER 

Two branches of the Wheeler family were among the early settlers of Pequonnock, namely 
Thomas Wheeler sr., Thomas Wheeler jr., brothers, & Ephraim Wheeler their nephew. Tradi- 
tion says they were from Wales. 

Thomas Wheeler sr. bom in England, was early at Concord ; there made a freeman 17. 
April 1 636-, & early removed to F. His home-lot at Pequonnock of 2i acres, is recorded Jan. 
1649. bounded n. e. with home-lot of Thomas Wheeler jr., n. w. James Bennett's, s. e. John 
Evart's & s. w. with highway. His will is dated 23. Aug. 1654, in which he mentions wife Ann, 
for whom he amply provides ; to eldest s. Thomas, who lived at Concord, Mass. he gave his home- 
lot, & ail land divided, or undivided, in Concord, &c., to his d. Sarah, wife of Tliomas Sherwood 
los , & to her son Thomas a colt ; to his four grandchildren Mary, James, Thomas & John Bennct, 
children of his dau. Hannah, then dead, & James Bennet (who m his d. in 1639.) 10* each ; to s. 
John, liis sole executor, he left all his estate at F., reserving his wife Ann's right in his house & 
lands left for her use at Greenlea. He made his brother Thomas an over-seer of his will, showing 
that he was the brother of Thomas jr. ; another case where two brothers bore the same christian 
name. His widow Ann died in 1659, & ^^^ will was probated 21. Aug. following. 

Thomas Wheeler jr., brother of the above Thomas sr. , settled at Pequonnock, & had a 
home-lot recorded Jan. 1649, bounded n. w. by highway; n. e. Richard Roots & Benjamin Tur 
ney's home-lots, s. w. by the home-lots of Ephraim Wheeler, Thomas Wheeler sr. & James Ben- 
nett. This lot was sold to Henry Jackson, & next to Robert Turney 24. Dec 1673 & afterwards to 
Richard Hubbell, in whose family it remained for many years. Of this Thomas VVheeler jr. I 
know no more ; but he may have been the Thomas of Milford. 

Capt. Thomas, of Concord s. of Thomas Wheeler sr. of F. born in England ; made a freeman 
of Mass. 18, May 1642, m. Ruth d. of William Wood, & had dau. Alice who died 17. March 1641. 
By second wife Sarah, had d. Sarah b. 10. July 1749 ; Joseph iS, Aug. 1651 ; Ann 20. Dec. 1653 ; 
John 18. Feb. 1656 ; Mary 20. Dec. 1658, & Thomas 29. March 1662. He was a Captain in King 
Philip's War, & at one time was appointed with Capt. Hutchinson to go with twenty horsemen 
to Quabuog, to treat with the Nipmuck Sachen>. The party was surprised by the Indians, & a 
number of them slain. Capt. Hutchinson was mortally wounded. Capt. Wheeler was also 
wounded & also his son, a lad of 13 years of age. He & the surviving troops fled to the town 
of Brookfield, where they made a log house their strong hold. Others joined them to the number 
of eighty, including their troops. The house was surrounded with Indians, who several times 
attempted to burn them out, but the bravery of Capt. Wheeler's men thwarted them at one time. 
& the rain extinguished the flames at another. At the moment the Indians were about to make 
another attack to destroy them, by preparing an engine, drawn by several pairs of cart-wheels, & 
loaded with combustible materials to fire the garrison, Capt. Wheeler was relieved at ten O, 'clock 
at night, by a flying army of sixty horse-men, who forced their way through the Indians, killing 
several, and wholly routing them. " During the time these people kept themselves in the house, 
two women were safely delivered of two sons apiece, who in a month's time brought them, all 
themselves, on foot to Boston, where they were plentifully relieved, out of the church stock there." 
(Drake's Old Indian Chronicle.) Capt. Wheeler wrote a narrative which has i)een re-published by 
the N. H. Historical Society in Vol. 2. He died 16. Dec. 1686, leaving widow Hannah, his 3"? w., 



422 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD 

& son Thomas, to administer upon his estate, by power from Governor Andros. His daughter 
Ruth m. 7. May 1673, Ephraim Jones of Concord. Savage Gen. Die. 

Sergt John i. s. of Thomas Wheeler sr., accompanied his father from Concord to F. He 
was given by will his father's lands at F. ; but had previously been deeded several valuable parcels 
of land by him, one of which was at Greenlea, near the Ship Harbor. The town granted him 8. 
acres in 1673, at Black Rock, bounded e. with the creek, & on all other sides with his own land, 
which confirms the account of William Wheeler's journal. He was made a freeman in ii'/ig ; was 
granted 100 acres by the Gen. Ct., was deputy from the town several times. He died intestate in 
the latter part of i68g ; & on the 5. of April i6go the court at F. appointed his widow & his s. 
John to administer upon his estate, which amounted i656;[^. 4s & 6'? . He m. first Judith d. of 
Benjamin Turney, & may have had a second wife. He had fourteen children, thirteen of whom 
were living when he died, whose ages are mentioned in the distribution of his estate in 1690, as fol- 
lows : Judan (probably Judith) 29; John 26 ; Elizabeth 23 ; Thomas 21 ; Mary 19 ; Rebecca 18 ; 
Joseph 16 ; Hannah 14 ; Abigail 10 ; Obediah 8 ; Anne 6 ; Jonathan 3 ; & David i. 

Lieut John 2. s. of John Wheeler i., firstm. Elizabeth d. of Henry Rowland i. His second 
wife was Abigail d. of Nathaniel Burr i., whom he m. 22. March 1693. Their children were 
John b. 20. July 1694 ; Sarah 11. Feb. 1696^; Abigail 16. Aug. 1698 ; Mary 4. Nov. 1701 ; Eliza- 
beth 3. April 1703; Judith Anne bapt. 10. March 1705^; Mary again 27. Dec 1713 ; Obadiah 15. 
April 17 16. 

Several of the sons & grandsons of Thomas Wheeler sr., settled on the long-lots of the 
family in Easton, & on the dividend lands of Compo, or Westport, Black Rock & Pequounock. 

Sergt. Ephraim Wheeler i., a nephew of the first two Thomases, was made a freeman at 
Concord, Mass. 13. March 1638. Farmer sayshe had a son Isaac born there in 1639. but probably 
died soon after ; Isaac again 13. Dec. 1642. He moved to F. with the Rev. John Jone's company 
in 1644, & was granted a home-lot at Pequonnock of 3 acres, bounded n. w. & s. w. with highways, 
n. e. with home-lots of Thomas Wheeler jr ; . s. e. with home-lot of James Bennet. He after- 
wards settled at Greenlea. He became a large land-holder in F. & was one of its most honored 
citizens. He m. Ann d. of Robert Turney. His will is dated 22. Sept. 1669, in which he gives to 
Isaac, Mary & Ruth lOs, they having received their father's portion previously ; tod. Hannah £iS- 
she having received a part of her portion ; to s'= Samuel, Timothy & Ephraim minors, J each of the 
building & land he then lived upon, when of age ; to Rebecca, a minor, land between Hawkins 
brook & John Odell's house at Greenlea ; to Abigail & Judith, minors 30/". each, when married or 
.at 18 years of age ; tow. Ann the use & choice of one end of his house, at her death or marriage, 
& then to be possessed wholly by Samuel. He made his wife executrix, & his cousin John Wheeler 
& Nathan Gold over-seers of his estate. Rebecca m. Samuel Gregory, who settled a little above 
the present St John's Church. 

WHELPLEY 

Henry Whelpley was at Stratford in 1645, & was soon after at F. , where he was granted a home- 
lot on the s. w. corner of the Frost Square. He sold this place in 1653, to Alexander Knowles. His 
widow Sarah, m. Ralph Keeler of Norwalk. He was probably the father of Joseph & Rebecca & 
perhaps other children. Rebecca m. Ezekiel Sandford of Pequonnock 25. April 1665 ; by whom 
she had a large family of children. F. T. Rec. 

Joseph i. s. of Henry Whelpley i., m. Rebecca d. of Thomas Bulkley i. Their children were 
Sarah b. 30. June 1676 ; Rebecca 2. April 1679 ; Joseph 7. Oct. 1682 F. T. Rec. 

Joseph 2. s. of Joseph Whelpley i., m d. of Their children were Sarah bapt. 

16. March 1706^. & perhaps others. 



GENEALOGIES 423 

WILSON 

Antony Wilson settled at F. about 1643, & m. Rachel, wid. of John Brandish, by whom 
he had d. Sarah. He next m. Sarah, the wid. of William Hill of F., & d. of Rev. John Jones. He 
d. early in 1662, leaving a good estate to his only child Sarah ; ;{^6o. to his brother Samuel Wilson ; 
legacies to his brother's Thomas, &John Wilson, to his brothers William & Ignatius Hill ; to his 
sister Ann ; & to his four cousins, meaning Savage says, nephews Thomas Wilson, Peter Clapham 
& Edward & Samuel Wilson. 

Samuf.l Wilson of F., probably a brother of the above Antony m. Phebe d. of Joseph Mid- 
dlebrook, under a marriage contract 1679. He took the oath of fidelity in the N. H. Col. i. 
July 1644. In March the same year, he, with several others were fined each " 6d. for fool guns." 
Again he was fined 5s. in 1646 for "wanting a worme, scourer & rest" — he having been warned 
to provide them. And for a defective cock on his gun & his bandoliers wanting covers, he was fined 
another 5s. He purchased of Edward Wigglesworth his house & home-lot i. Sept. 1646 at New 
Haven. On the 6 Feb. 1649, ^^ sold his house & home lot at New Haven to Thomas Powell. 
He probably at this time removed to F. His children were John, Isaac, Daniel Joseph & Stephen 
& Elizabeth, all bapt. 7. March 1696/7. 

William Wilson was a freeman of F. 8. Feb. 1668. 

Thomas Wilson of F. was made a freeman in 1664 & was probably a brother, or a nephew 
of Antony Wilson. He d. in 1691, leaving wid. Hannah & one d. 

Joseph, prob. s. of Samuel Wilson i. m. d. of . Their children were Sarah. 

Abigail & Elizabeth, all bapt. 2. April 1732, Anne 16. July 1732, Samuel 3. Nov. 1734. 

Nath.\niel s. of Wilson m. Elizabeth & had children Nathaniel & Anne bapt. 

7. April 1795. 

Nathaniel 2, s. of Nathaniel Wilson i., m. d. of , & had s. Nathaniel bapt. 

Oct. 1725. 



LIST OF GENEALOGIES 



I Adams. 
«'2 Andrews. 

3 Banks. 
74 Barlow. 

5 Bartram, 

6 Beers. 

7 Bradley. 

8 Bulkley. 

9 Burr. 

10 Cabell. 

11 Coley. 

12 Couch. 

13 Denny. 

14 Dimond. 

15 Fan ton. 

16 Frost. 

17 Gilbert. 

18 Gold. 

19 Godfrey. 

20 Gray. 

21 Green. 

22 Grumman. 



y 



23 Hall. 

24 Hedge. 

25 Hide. 

26 Hill. 

27 Hubbell. 

28 Hull. 

29 Jackson. 

30 Jennings. 
^^31 Jessup. 

32 Jones. 

33 Joy. 

34 Knap. 

35 Knowles. 

36 Lockwood. 

37 Lord. 
y38 Lyon. 

39 Middlebrook. 

40 Morehouse. 

41 Nash. 

42 Nichols. 

43 Odell. 

44 Ogden. 

45 Osborne. 



46 Read. 

47 Robinson. 

48 Roots. 

49 Rowland. 

50 Sandford. 

51 Seeley. 

52 Silliman. 

53 Sherwood. 

54 Sprague. 

55 Squire. 

56 Staples. 

57 Sturges. 

58 !|rhompson. 

59 Treadwell. 

60 Tumey. 

61 Wakeley. 

62 Wakeman. 

63 Ward. 

64 Webb. 

65 Wheeler. 

66 Whelpley. 

67 Wilson. 



viy 






^^IVi 



ABBREVIATIONS 



b bom. 

bapt baptized. 

Conn. Col. Rec Connecticut Colonial Records. 

d. & d's daughter, or daughters. 

dec. & d deceased, or died. 

F Fairfield. 

F. T. D Fairfield Town Deeds. 

F. Par. Rec Fairfield Parish Records, 

F. Prob. Rec Fairfield Probate Records. 

G. F. Par. Rec Green's Farm's Parish Records. 

G. H. P^r. Rec Greenfield Hill Parish Records. 

Gen. Ct General Court. 

H. C Harvard College. 

m married. 

Mass. Col. Rec Massachusetts Colonial Records. 

N. H. Col. Rec New Haven Colonial Records. 

N. E Northeast. 

N. W Northwest. 

S. & S's Son, or sons. 

S. E Southeast. 

S. W Southwest. 

\vid Widow. 

w Wife. 



